The Assassin
by person226
Summary: What do you do with a Clark that has no emotions? Alt. ending for Infamous. More information inside.
1. Emotional Issues

Title: The Assassin

Summary: This is sort of my alternate ending to Infamous. It's not going to be a very happy fic in the beginning, and I'm hoping it'll get happy before I end it. What if Clark _had_ been taken by the government in the episode?

Disclaimer: You know what I do and don't own.

A/N: Please let me know what you think, whether I should keep going with it. Reviews are always great.

Emotional Issues

Death. It was the only thing he knew, the only thing he breathed, the only thing he lived for. He had never experienced it, but he had seen many people going through it. It was odd, he never felt remorse for the people that died. He felt nothing at all. He would watch their eyes slowly drain of life, all their hopes and dreams dying along with them. He didn't know anything else, just the orders that he was given.

"Here's your new assignment." a man across from him said. He passed him a folder with pictures and basic information. "You are to find this woman and kill her before the end of the week."

He opened the folder and looked through the pictures. "What is she being convicted of?" It was the same question he would always ask whenever he was given a new assignment.

"Treason."

"That's understood, but why else?"

"In the past, she attempted to help an enemy of the country get away. We were led to believe that she had died in a fire, but now we have proof that she is still alive."

The man nodded as he continued looking through the pictures. She looked familiar, as if she was from his past that he couldn't remember. "What is her name?"

"Lois Lane."

He nodded and collected the files. "I'll get it done."

* * *

She walked out the coffee shop with a large cup filled with the decadent, warm, brown liquid. She couldn't wait until she could drink it, but first she had to call her sweet baby cousin. She pulled out her cell and dialed the number she had memorized so many years ago.

"Hello, Chloe Sullivan."

"Chlo, it's me."

"Hey, it's good to hear from you considering the busy life you lead." the sarcasm was noted in Chloe's voice.

She smiled as she continued walking. "Yeah, I specially put enjoying my coffee on hold so I could call you."

Chloe laughed. "What's been going on?"

"Nothing, just wanted to let you know that I was in town…"

"What?! No way!" Chloe squealed.

"Geez, Chloe, you're going to bust my ear drum." she held the phone away from her ear and grimaced slightly.

"Oh get over it. So when are you going to stop by?"

"In about thirty minutes." "Great! I'll see you then."

"All right, bye baby."

"See you Lois."

Lois hung up the phone and put it back in her purse. She put on her happy mask and continued walking. Life had been so hard after the incident in the barn. She had never found out what happened to him. After she escaped, she lost all contact. Now she regretted ever leaving that place. Maybe if she hadn't left then she might know what happened to Clark.

She took a large gulp of the coffee and sighed contentedly. It tasted so good.

There was a loud gun shot and Lois immediately ducked and started running. The gun shots continued and people on the streets started running away, ducking for cover. Lois hid behind a car and the bullets came flying to the car. Whoever was shooting the gun seemed to be aiming for her. Lois peeked her head out to see if she could catch a glimpse of the shooter.

Whoever he was, he was hiding in the bushes with the gun barrel poking out from the leaves.

Lois pulled her head back and waited, hoping the car would continue providing cover for her. The shooter was bound to run out of bullets eventually. Faintly, she could hear the empty click of the gun. She stood up and began running, her coffee forgotten on the sidewalk. She was wearing tennis shoes and jeans, so it was fairly easy to run, unlike all the other times she ran in her pencil skirts and impossible high heels.

She ducked into an alley hoping that she had lost whoever it was. She breathed in deeply and closed her eyes. Her throat was burning from the lack of water, but she could handle it.

Lois could feel a strong hand grab her by the neck and she was slowly being lifted up. She was being choked. She clawed at the fingers that were squeezing the air out of her lungs and started scratching them. She only ended up hurting her finger nails. She opened her eyes to look the offender in the eyes. She gasped. It couldn't be, it wasn't true. "Clark?"

* * *

He sat in the bushes waiting for her to get off the phone. He had learned never to kill someone while they were on the phone. The police would come much quicker. He watched her smiling and walking briskly. It seemed so familiar. He kept the gun trained on her. She finally hung up the phone, but he couldn't bring himself to start shooting. She was just so pretty and looked like an honest person. He couldn't imagine her trying to help an enemy of the country. He clenched his jaw and remembered his orders. Kill Lois Lane. He started shooting. Lois ran once the bullets started flying. He saw her duck behind a car. He continued shooting at the car, waiting for the protective shell it provided for her to break.

The bullets ran out and he didn't bring anymore. He saw her get up from behind the car and run into an alley. His superiors had always advised him not to use his abilities unless it was necessary. This time was just one of those times.

He stood up and sped to the alley in a blur. He saw her leaning against the alley wall with her eyes closed as she caught her breath. He sped up to her and grabbed her by her neck. Slowly, he lifted her up and started squeezing his fingers around her small little neck. He could easily break her neck in half, but he always seemed to enjoy seeing his prey suffer.

She opened her eyes and looked at him. "Clark?"

Hearing that name made him loosen his grip, but not completely. Why was that name so familiar? Why did it make him want to pull this Lois Lane into his arms and kiss her feverishly?

"Please, Clark. It's me. Lois!" she continued pleading with him.

Lois. It was Lois Lane. He knew that from the files, but now he felt as if he knew her on a completely personal level. "Lois." he spoke.

"Yes! Lois!" she started coughing from her lack of air.

He freaked out, not wanting Lois to die just yet. Maybe she knew something about his past. After he found out all he could, then he would kill her. He gently lowered her to the ground and let go of her neck.

"Clark! Please tell me you remember?" Lois said with a sadness in her eyes.

He wasn't able to identify that emotion though. He had been forced to numbness such a long time ago. He no longer knew what it meant to be happy, sad, angry, excited, nothing. Emotions were no longer a part of him. "I was sent to kill you." he said. He didn't know why, it just came out.

Lois' hand went to her mouth and he could see drops pouring from her eyes. "What have they done to you?" she whispered.

"They made me whole." he answered. He didn't know what those water droplets falling from her eyes were called. He had seen a familiar substance from some of the people he had killed, but he didn't know what they were called. Could he produce that same kind of substance?

"No." Lois said in a firm voice. "Come on Clark. I know you're in there." she said as she grabbed his hands in her own.

He looked down at their clasped hands. He tilted his head, wondering what this fluttering in his stomach was. He only felt it whenever _she_ was touching him of her own free will. He didn't feel it when he had held her high up in the air as he tried killing her. No, this time was different. He looked up into her hazel eyes. There were so many emotions running around in them, but he couldn't name any of them. "Lois." he spoke her name, not knowing what might happen.

She smiled. "Yes! I'm Lois, and you're Clark."

He furrowed his brows. Clark? Was that his name? He could never remember what his name was. He was only called 'the Assassin.' "I'm Clark?"

Lois smiled. "Yes! You remember!"

He closed his eyes and tried organizing his thoughts. As he did, one thought persisted. Kill Lois Lane. His eyes flew open with a new rage burning inside of them. It was a rage that he would save for very special victims.

Lois backed away when she saw the immediate change in him. "Don't do this. You're going to regret it for the rest of your life."

"I have no regrets because I feel nothing." he said as he took a step closer.

Lois looked down at her purse. Inside of it was a lead container that had the only thing that could kill Clark; kryptonite. Chloe and Oliver had insisted that she start carrying it around, just in case something like this ever happened. Lois couldn't bring herself to take it out though. It didn't matter it Clark did want to kill her, she was going to purposefully bring pain to him. "You don't want to do this!" she pleaded.

"It's my orders to kill Lois Lane. You are Lois Lane. I was sent to kill you." his voice was monotonous. He knew no other thing.

"Please…" her voice quivered with emotion as she saw his eyes begin burning a bright red. She knew what that meant. He was going to incinerate her. She closed her eyes and a tear seeped through as she waited for her doom to come.

It never did though. All she heard was a loud gun fire and an inhuman scream. She threw her eyes open and saw him kneeled on the ground yelling. She looked up and saw a blonde man standing with a gun. The barrel was smoking as he let it swing at his side.

Lois bent down beside Clark. She looked up at the blonde man that was quickly approaching them. "What did you do to him, Oliver?!" she yelled.

"I shot him with a tranquilizer dart. The needle had a small amount of kryptonite so that it could actually penetrate his skin." Oliver said as he knelt down.

Lois looked up at him with a fury in her eyes. "How could you do that?!"

"Lois, he was about to kill you! What else was I supposed to do?"

Lois turned the now unconscious Clark over on his stomach. There was the dart sticking out of his back. She pulled it out and threw it into a trash can. "We have to get him out of here."

"I don't know if that's such a good idea…" Oliver said with a hesitancy in his voice.

"Why not?" "Because they're bound to have put a tracking device on him. They'll track him down and arrest all of us."

"Oliver, this is Clark we're talking about."

"Clark doesn't exist anymore Lois." Oliver said.

Lois clenched her jaw. It was so hard not to punch him right then and there. "What are you talking about."

"You have no idea what they did to him, Lois." Oliver said, trying to chose his words carefully. "They broke him completely."

Lois swallowed her tears. "Well, we'll just have to fix him then." she said as she stood up. "Come on. Help me carry him to your car."

Oliver sighed as he stood up. There was no point in arguing with her.

* * *

Chloe paced the floor in her apartment. After Oliver called her telling her to get some things ready, she had been freaking out. He wouldn't tell her what was going on and Chloe really needed to be in the know. She prayed that nothing happened to Lois. If Lois was hurt, she didn't know what she would do.

There was a knock on the door. Chloe ran to answer it and flung it open. "Oliver, Lois!" she looked at the man they were supporting. "Clark?" she took a step back as her hand traveled to her mouth. It couldn't be. Was it really Clark?

"Chlo, you got the things?" Lois asked as she and Oliver proceeded to walk in.

"Uh, yeah. Hang on." Chloe said as she was snapped out of her daze. She ran to the kitchen and grabbed the things.

Lois and Oliver laid Clark on the couch with a heave. Lois blew out frustrated air and she brushed her hair aside. Chloe came in with a blow of warm water, a wet towel, and lead box with kryptonite, just in case he decided to go on a rampage.

Lois grabbed the towel and started patting Clark's face with it. "Don't worry, Smallville. You're going to be just fine."

"Oliver, can I talk with you for a minute." Chloe said as she grabbed his arm and started leading him to another room. She closed the door and looked at Oliver. "What the heck is going on?"

Oliver put his hands in his pockets. "Clark came back."

"Thanks for pointing that out Captain Obvious. What really happened?" "I was following Lois, making sure that she was fine and everything. Out of nowhere some person just started shooting and they seemed to be aiming for Lois. I started running for her after she ducked into an alley, but then there was this black blur. I couldn't believe it at first, but when I finally reached the alley, there he was. He was trying to kill her."

Chloe's hand went to her head as she tried to fathom the idea. There was once a time that Clark would threaten to choke Lois because she was just so annoying, but then they started getting so close to where the choking turned into kissing. From what Chloe understood, they never had a real kiss without any help, like a love potion, red kryptonite, or even that time in the alley that Lois still didn't know it was him dressed as Green Arrow. "So what are we going to do when he wakes up?"

"I don't know. Maybe seeing Lois will bring back some memories." Oliver suggested. He was really grasping at straws here.

Chloe frowned. "Okay, but we're going to have to have something near just incase he doesn't remember and still wants to kill Lois."

Oliver nodded. "I don't supposed you have some blue kryptonite that we could slip on him?"

Chloe shook her head. "That stuff is pretty hard to find. The only thing that we could possibly use is the green kind." she sighed. "But we would only have to use it for a very short amount of time. You know what it can do to him."

Oliver nodded. "I'm really sorry." Oliver said as he placed a hand on her shoulder. Clark had been Chloe's only real friend aside from Lana. But she didn't know what happened to her. She had disappeared off the face of the Earth.

"It's all right. You weren't the one that brainwashed him."

Oliver smiled grimly at her attempt at humor. He walked out and could hear Chloe behind him.

Lois was sitting on the coffee table, tenderly wiping Clark's forehead. It would be such a cute moment if it weren't for the circumstances.

"How's he doing?" Chloe asked.

"Fine. I think he's waking up a little bit." Lois said. She smiled at his sleeping face. It was so peaceful. It might be the only time he had peace.

"Lois, you know that he might not remember you when he wakes up and might very well try killing you." Oliver asked.

Lois sighed. "I know that."

"And you understand what that means, right?" Oliver continued.

"Yes, but I will not let you kill him, understand? I know that he's in there somewhere. He's just waiting for the right person to bring him back." Lois said.

Oliver pitied her. She believed so much that Clark would come back and be the same man he was before. But Oliver believed that it would take a miracle.

Clark began stirring. Oliver grabbed the lead box, just to be safe. Chloe didn't know whether to step closer or step back. Lois held her breath as she waited to see if he would remember her or try killing her again.

Clark moaned and his hand went to his forehead. He opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling. His eyebrows came together as he tried to sort out his scattered thoughts. He asked himself the same questions he would always ask himself when he woke up in confusion. Who was he? He didn't know. Where was he? He didn't know. Who was he supposed to kill? Lois Lane.

He sat up straight and stared Lois dead straight in her eyes. "I'm supposed to kill you Lois Lane."

Oliver was about to pull out the kryptonite, but Lois put her hand up to stop him. "Then do it. Kill me right now." Lois said.

Clark clenched his jaw. Why couldn't he do it? What was so different about this woman that made him want let her live.

"What's wrong? Why can't you kill me?" she continued.

Clark shut his eyes as he tried blocking out all the images that were surfacing in his mind. He remembered a cell, green stuff that hurt him terribly, gun shots, and a ring with an 'L' on it. But after every image that passed, one of Lois would show up. She would be smiling, looking furious, crying, or sticking her tongue out in a playfully manner. All the memories hurt him. Every time a new one would come up, his mind would start hurting. He grabbed his head, hoping that it would stop the spinning.

"Clark! Clark, are you okay?" he could hear Lois yelling. He felt her hand on his arms. Why did it make his arm tingle?

He closed his eyes tighter. Finally, he heard it. Smallville. The name kept ringing in his head, over and over again. After he heard Smallville, he started hearing Clark Kent. Different people calling out to him, some happy, others crying, and some angry.

The pain in his head stopped. All of the images fell into place. Clark Kent. He was Clark Kent. He opened his eyes and looked at Lois. "Clark." he spoke. "I'm Clark."

A grin spread over Lois' face as she threw her arms around his neck. "You're back!" she said with happy tears spilling from her face.

Chloe was laughing as tears fell from her eyes too. Not even Oliver could hide his mile wide smile. Clark had finally come back home.

But he still wasn't complete. He understood that he was Clark Kent, but he didn't understand what Lois was doing. "What are you doing?" he asked her.

Lois looked at him and she grabbed his face in her hands. "I'm so happy!"

Clark was still confused. "Why were your arms around my neck?" he asked more persistently.

Lois frowned. "I was hugging you." she said it as if he should've known.

Hugging. Clark had never heard that word before. Was that a good thing or a bad thing. "What is that?"

Lois sat back. "Are you serious, Smallville?"

Clark frowned harder.

Chloe knew what was going on. "They took away his ability to feel." she stated in a sad voice.

Lois turned around and looked at her. "There has to be a way to make him feel again."

"We're going to have to teach him everything, starting from the basics." Oliver said.

Lois looked back at Clark. His eyes were so blank. He knew that he was Clark Kent, but that was it. "Do you know who I am?"

"Lois Lane."

"What about me?" Chloe asked as she stepped forward.

Clark thought for a moment until an image came up and a name along with the image. "Chloe Sullivan."

"All right, Kent. You seem to remember these two, do you remember me?" Oliver asked.

Clark put names and images together in his mind. "Oliver Queen or the Green Arrow."

Oliver smiled. "But just call me Oliver. We don't want people knowing my secret."

Clark didn't know why he was smiling. He thought that you were supposed to smile when something funny happened and from what he remembered about funny, it was something that made your stomach feel weird until you let out this loud noise from your mouth. It wasn't exactly yelling, but it wasn't crying either. It was sort of in between.

"So what do we do with him?" Oliver asked. He looked at Clark who was now staring blankly at the wall in front of him.

Chloe sighed. "We have to keep him until he remembers more things."

"I'll take him." Lois offered.

Chloe and Oliver shared a concerned look. They knew of the things that happened between her and Clark. They didn't think that it would be a good idea because Lois might get too attach. It still wasn't for certain if this memory thing was going to stay. And there was always the possibility that he might remember his mission to kill Lois.

"Lois, it would be a lot better if he stays here." Chloe eased.

"Then, I'm moving in too." she insisted.

"But-"

"I am not going to leave his side until he is completely better." Lois said as she stood up with a new mission in life.

Chloe sighed. There was going to be no point in arguing with Lois. "All right, you can take the guest bedroom and Clark will take the couch."

Lois turned around and looked at Clark. "Just like old times, right Smallville?"

Clark looked at Lois with a blank expression. "What do you mean?" he asked in a monotonous voice.

Lois sighed and rolled her eyes. "We're going to have to work on that." she said as she patted his shoulder. "I'll be back with a few things. I won't move in completely just yet." she said as she stood up. She looked down at Clark. A part of her longed to kiss him. They had never shared a real one and she thought that opportunity had passed them by, but here he was. It wouldn't be real though because Clark didn't understand what a kiss was. "I'll see you in a few." she said as she walked out.

Chloe turned to Oliver. "You want to move in too?"

Oliver laughed. "Nah, I think I'll stay at my pent house." Oliver started walking to the door. "Are you going to be fine here alone with him?"

Chloe shrugged her shoulders. "It's Clark. My best friend in the whole world." Chloe said a little wistfully.

Oliver nodded understandingly. "Give me a call if either of your house guests acts up."

Chloe chucked. "Then I'll end up calling you by the end of the day."

"See you later Chlo."

"You too Ollie."

Oliver walked out the door leaving Chloe alone with the amnesiac Clark. "So Clark, it's just you and me."

Clark turned his head when Chloe spoke his name. "Clark." he repeated. "I'm Clark."

For the first time that day, Chloe saw the smallest hint of a smile on his lips.

* * *

The man sat behind his large desk looking at all the file work spread out. On his nameplate it read Justin Bartlett. He was the boss here, the main guy, the top dog. Everyone reported to him, even The Assassin.

Someone started knocking on his door. "Come in." Justin said.

The door opened and the tech guy, a.k.a. the nerd, came in. "Uh, Mr. Bartlett." he stuttered as he started adjusting his glasses nervously.

"What do you Stewart?" Justin asked.

"I, um, have some new information for you…" Stewart said as he walked in with papers clutched to his chest.

"What is it?"

"The Assassin, he um, seems to be stalling in killing the latest target."

"Why?" Justin asked. He was getting annoyed by the minute.

"We don't know, but he seems to have stopped at this address." he handed him a slip of paper with an address to an apartment.

Justin took the slip of paper and looked at it. "Get General Lane in here."


	2. Milkshakes and Guns

Milkshakes and Guns

Clark stayed seated on the couch. He didn't know where to go if he stood up. He saw Chloe rubbing her face. Was she upset? He hardly knew what upset was, but he knew that it wasn't a very good emotion.

"So Clark, do you want some coffee or anything?" Chloe asked as she went into the kitchen.

"No."

"You're not hungry?" Chloe asked with interest.

"No."

"When was the last time you ate?"

"Five days ago." Clark replied as if it was the most natural thing.

"Five days! Clark you're going to starve if you don't eat anything!" Chloe exclaimed as she started bustling about looking for something quick to heat up for him.

"I said I was not hungry." Clark stated again.

Chloe had found some leftover fish in her refrigerator. She popped it into the microwave. "Clark, you are going to eat whether you want to or not."

Clark stood up and walked towards her. Chloe couldn't help but gulp at his large looming presence. He didn't have that 'Clark' presence anymore. It was more of a cold and dark presence. It scared Chloe out her wits. "I do not want any food." he insisted.

Chloe looked at him with scared eyes. His eyes weren't the same anymore. They were different, they were cold and hard. It was as if he had seen all the horrible things in this world all in one sitting.

Chloe nodded her head meekly before she side stepped him and walked out of the kitchen as fast as she could. "Um, I'm going to be in my room. You just call me if you need anything."

Clark turned around and looked at her. He nodded his head as he walked back to the living room and took a seat on the couch. Chloe went into her room and Clark sat there, staring blankly at the wall.

* * *

"Chloe! I'm back!" Lois called out as she opened the door to Chloe's apartment. In her hands was a small bag filled with a week's worth of clothing. She didn't need that much since she kept a stash of clothing at Chloe's anyways. She stepped in and saw Clark sitting on the couch. "Clark, what are you doing?"

Clark lifted his head when he heard his name being called. He was still trying to get used to his name again. "Nothing." he replied.

Lois frowned as she walked towards him. It really was true. He was doing absolutely nothing, just staring blankly at the black TV screen in front of him. "Chloe? Where are you?" Lois called out.

Chloe's bedroom door opened and she stepped out. "Hey Lois."

Lois walked towards her and put her bag on the floor. "What's up with Clark? Didn't you try turning on the TV for him?"

"I did, but every time I would walk out of the room, he would grab the remote and turn off the TV. I even tried making him eat. I don't think he's very hungry right now."

"Did he try to do anything?"

"No, he just made it very clear that he didn't want anything to eat."

Lois frowned as she turned her gaze towards him. "When was the last time he ate?"

"He says five days ago."

"What?!" Lois yelled.

"Shh!" Chloe exclaimed her hand reaching up to cover Lois' mouth, but she stopped. She knew from previous experiences that Lois would lick her hand. "Look, Clark has been making me really nervous right now. I don't know what to do with him. If you want to try something then be my guest."

Lois sighed as she tossed her bags into the guestroom. She passed Chloe and whispered. "Watch how the pros do it." she walked towards Clark and took a seat next to him.

Clark didn't seem to notice her. He kept staring straight ahead.

Lois placed her hand on his arm, but Clark quickly retracted his arm. It was odd. Only whenever Lois would touch him would he feel a burning inside and outside. This woman was the only one that made him want to feel, but he had forgotten how. He looked at her with confusion written in his eyes.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm not going to do anything to hurt you." Lois eased.

Clark frowned and he slid further down the couch.

Lois rolled her eyes. "All right, if you don't want to sit next to me, fine. But you are going to eat."

"I'm not hungry?" Clark wasn't sure of his answer. He wasn't sure of anything once Lois stepped inside the apartment.

"Clark, you haven't eaten in five days. You need something to eat. I don't care if you're not human, you are going to eat." Lois ordered.

Clark tilted his head. He was trying to understand Lois. She seemed to like bossing people around, but would only do it for their benefit. "Okay."

Lois was a bit surprised that he said okay. She didn't even have to fight him on it. "All right then." she stood up and motioned to Chloe.

Chloe raised her eyebrow impressed by what Lois had done. She always had an uncanny ability to make Clark do practically anything. The two cousins went into the kitchen and started cooking. Well, Lois was just giving Chloe the things she needed, that was her way of _cooking_.

Clark stood up and stood at the entrance of the kitchen watching them. His hands were still at his side as he stood as straight as possible. He would not move at all except for his eyes as they would travel back and forth from Lois to Chloe. Clark focused his attention on Lois more.

Chloe was starting to feel a little unnerved by his hard stare, but Lois seemed to be unaffected by it. "Geez Smallville. Are you seriously going to watch me, just to be sure I don't cook any of your food?" she asked in a light, teasing voice.

Clark tilted his head again. Chloe guessed that action was going to become more frequent until they taught him how to feel again. Lois looked at him expecting him to say a comeback, but instead he stared even more intensely at her. For a moment, Lois had forgotten the horrors Clark had gone through. Heck, she had seen what they had done to him in the first few months.

"I'll make my own food." Clark said.

Chloe and Lois both looked at him in mild shock. "Okay…are you sure you don't want what we were going to make? We were going to make lasagna." Chloe asked.

Clark ignored her as he walked inside the kitchen. He opened a drawer and pulled out the blender. He seemed to know where everything was. Lois guessed he was using his x-ray vision to find everything. He pulled out five eggs, a can of tuna, a cup of milk and some raisins. He dumped it all into the blender and turned it on.

Lois and Chloe scrunched up their noses at the sickly color the concoction was turning. He wasn't really going to drink that was he? They were both wondering this question as Clark reached up to grab a large cup. He turned off the blender and poured his mixture into the cup. In one large gulp, he drank the entire thing.

Both ladies made faces at the disgusting smell of the drink. They couldn't believe that Clark had drunk it all and he didn't even make a face! Lois shivered as she could only imagine how it must've tasted like. "Smallville, you're still as weird as you were the first time I saw you." Lois said as she grabbed the empty cup. There were still little drops in it.

Lois was a little curious as to how it might taste like. She looked in the cup with a frown as she brought it close to her lips. She licked the inside where there were several drops. She immediately pulled back her tongue and tried to get rid of the horrid taste. She started to spit it out as best as she could in the sink.

Chloe couldn't help but chuckle at Lois. She had to have known that it was going to taste disgusting. Why did she insist on trying it?

Clark squinted his eyes slightly at Lois as she gagged up the small drops of the drink. His head tilted again. Clark started feeling a slight flutter in his stomach and he could feel his mouth curving upwards. He was starting to feel…light. It was like nothing before. He closed his eyes and remembered all the training he had been through. Clark's mouth went straight again and the fluttering stopped. The light feeling dispersed as well. Clark needed to be sure never to let whatever that was come over him again.

* * *

General Sam Lane looked at the name plate on the door. Justin Bartlett. He was the man in charge of the whole thing. He was the one who had the supposedly 'brilliant' idea. Now that brilliant idea of his turned around and bit him back.

He opened the door and stepped inside. "You wanted to see me?"

Justin turned around in his chair. "We sent our assassin out on another mission." he clasped his hands as he stared at Sam with his horrid dark green eyes.

"You never tell me whenever he's sent out. Why are you telling me now?" Sam asked as he took a seat on an overstuffed leather chair.

"He hasn't come back yet and he's been out for almost a whole day now."

"Maybe this mission was going to be harder than the others. How long did you give him?"

"I gave him a week and you know as well as I do that nothing can be too hard for him."

Sam clenched his teeth. Was it so wrong to want to kill Justin right then and there? "I don't know what to tell you."

"You can go find him and bring him back. Some nerd came in here and gave me the address where he stopped." Justin handed Sam a slip of paper.

Sam went over the address. "I'll do it, but who was he sent to kill?"

"It's classified. You don't need to know."

"Justin, as much as I regret it, I am a partner in this business. I need to know everything."

"You can't handle everything Sammy."

"It's Sam." he said in that gruff voice of his. He used to be able to intimidate people with that voice, but now it just earned him names like 'That Old Geezer' or 'Ye Old Battle Axe.'

"Whatever. Find him and tell me as soon as your heading back to base."

Sam narrowed his eyes, but nodded his head. He left the room and started walking down the dimly lit room. How did he end up here? This wasn't where he was supposed to be. He was supposed to be out in Arabia or something preparing a battle plan. Instead he was stuck here in this government facility.

He opened the door to his office and sat down at his desk. He closed his eyes and started reminiscing of the first day the project _officially _started. The day their assassin finally broke.

* * *

_Sam watched with his arms crossed. He was looking through a one-way mirror into a room. In all four corners was a small pile of green glowing rocks. They had learned that it was called Kryptonite. In the center of the room was a man tied to a chair with another man standing over him._

"_What is your name?" the man standing asked. His name was Steve and he was the trainer. He had experience in torture and, in general, getting people to break._

"_Clark Kent." he responded through gritted teeth. He was already bruised all over his body. The bright blue color of his shirt had faded away a long time ago. Now red and green splotches covered it._

_Steve pulled out a needle and injected Clark with a green fluid in his upper arm. Clark yelled out in agony. It was like nothing Sam had ever heard before. This was just inhumane. He knew this kid and he also knew that he was not a threat to national security. Sure, he may be an alien, but Sam didn't see any difference. Clark was more human than some of the people that worked here._

_Sam turned to Albert, the other man standing in the room with him. "Is this really necessary?" he asked._

_Albert looked up from his clipboard. "Yes. If we want this country to be safe, we need to take the necessary precautions."_

"_But this is completely wrong! It violates human rights!"_

"_He has no human rights because he is _not_ a human." Albert said it as if it was a rehearsed line._

_Sam couldn't believe this. He was about to walk in and stop this once and for all, but Justin walked in. "Sorry Sammy, you can't go in there." Justin pushed Sam aside and walked in. As he closed the door, he locked it behind him._

_Sam turned to Albert. "What's going on?" he asked._

_Albert just shrugged his shoulders._

_Justin walked to a corner and grabbed a nice sized chunk of kryptonite. He tossed it back and forth in his hands as he walked closer to Clark. _

_Clark held a steel gaze as Justin approached him. Even though his blood was boiling from being near the kryptonite, he refused to let his gaze lower._

"_Mr. Kent, why can't you cooperate with us? You know if you did, life would be a whole lot easier for you. You could move back to your little farm, get with your girlfriend, have a family…wait, is that even possible for you?"_

_Clark tugged at his bonds, willing them to break loose. "Where is she?"_

_Justin gave him a quizzical look. "Who are you talking about?"_

"_Don't play games with me! You know who I'm talking about!" Clark yelled._

_Justin didn't like being yelled at, so he dropped the rock in Clark's lap. Clark bit back a yell and instead bit his tongue. Blood started to drip out of it because of the pressure he was putting on it. "Don't yell at me." he said in a low menacing voice._

_Sam saw a smirk that sent chills down his spine appear on Justin's face. He bent down and whispered something to Clark. When he finished, a look of despair was the only thing that could be seen on Clark's face. Several tears fell from his face and he started yelling like nothing before._

_Sam quickly looked to Albert. "Did you hear what he said?"_

_Albert shook his head, interested in what was going on also._

_Sam looked back in the room. Justin nodded to Steve and he walked out of the room. Sam walked up to him and nearly grabbed him by his collar. "What did you do to him?"_

"_I finally figured out what would make him break." Justin replied smugly._

_Sam looked back in the room. "What's your name?" Steve asked Clark._

_Clark looked down at the floor as tears flowed freely from his eyes. Sam envied him slightly. Clark was able to cry freely in front of his enemies, he wasn't afraid to unlike Sam. He looked up at the trainer. "Clark?" he wasn't sure of his answer anymore._

_The trainer pulled out another needle with the lethal green fluid and injected it into Clark. He didn't yell out, but instead began moaning endlessly._

"_What is your name?" the trainer asked the weakened Kryptonian._

_Clark didn't answer for a few moments. "I don't know." he finally replied with a forlorn look on his face._

_Steve smiled and he looked up to the glass. Although he couldn't see past it, he gave the three men in the room a thumbs up._

_Sam felt sick to his stomach. "I want out." he said to Justin._

_Justin smirked. "No, you're stuck here. Check the contract Lane. If you bail out of this, you'll be classified worse than a terrorist. You'll be a traitor." he knew that his words had gotten to Sam. He smiled and waved cockily as he walked out of the room._

* * *

Sam grimaced as he thought of that day. After that, Clark had completely changed. Sam never found out what Justin had told Clark, but he knew it couldn't be any good. It was most likely a lie. Sam needed to get out of this. He didn't care if he was going to be considered a traitor, this was crazy.

He looked down at the address Justin had given him. He was going to find Clark and take him somewhere safe where they could bring him back.

"Lois, I'm going to go to the store. Clark used all of my eggs." Chloe said as she put on her coat and grabbed her jacket.

Lois came out of her room. "All right Chloe. Do you think that you could buy some coffee?" she asked.

"But I have coffee here." Chloe said with puzzlement.

"I honestly don't think it's going to last this week. So you need to buy _at least_ three canisters."

"My goodness Lois, how much coffee do you drink?"

"Eight and a half cups." Clark answered.

Chloe and Lois looked at Clark, surprised that he spoke, much less said the right answer. "You remember?" Lois asked with a certain level of caution in her voice.

Clark looked at her blankly. "No."

Chloe and Lois exchanged a look. "So why did you answer her?" Chloe continued

Clark furrowed his brows as if he was really trying hard to think. "Because it was the right answer."

"But how did you know it was the right answer?" asked Lois.

"I don't know." Clark said. He may not know what frustration was, but it was evident in his tone.

"Go ahead and go to the store. I'll stay with amnesia boy and see if he can remember anything else." Lois said as she patted Chloe's arm.

Chloe nodded and she walked out the door.

Lois sighed as Chloe left. She turned around and looked at Clark. For the first time since he was here, he seemed to be so confused and genuinely wanted to know where he came from. Lois took a seat next to him and he stayed in the same spot. "So, Smallville…how did you know I drank eight and a half cups of coffee? I don't ever remember telling anyone that. Especially not you." Lois thought a moment. She wondered if Clark would actually count how many cups she would drink every day when they used to work together at the Planet.

Clark stared ahead. "I can't see anything."

Lois looked at him weird. "Okay…you have your eyes open, right?"

"I have no memories." he clarified as he squinted his eyes.

"And we're going to fix that." Lois patted his leg and Clark flinched. Lois didn't take notice of it though. "I'm going to get some pictures. Maybe they'll jog your memory." she said as she stood up and walked to Chloe's room.

Clark sat there by himself again. He tried so hard to find something in his mind that was from his past, but he couldn't remember anything past his training.

The door knob started jiggling and the door opened letting in an uninvited guest.

* * *

Sam looked at the apartment door. He was in the heart of Metropolis. He was a little sad since he knew this was where Lois always wanted to live. She only lived here for a little while before she disappeared. Sam pulled out a plastic card and began jiggling the lock. The lock was easily broken and he pushed open the door.

He saw Clark sitting on a couch alone. Once Clark saw him, he immediately stood up. "Sam."

"Clark, we need to get you out of here." Sam said as he started walking towards Clark.

"I haven't finished my mission." Clark said with shame in his voice.

"It's all right-"

"I'll do it right now." Clark said with determination.

"All right Smallville. I found some old pictures in Chlo's closet. I don't know what she did with the…" Lois came walking out of Chloe's room with the pictures in her hands, but she saw Sam standing before her. "Daddy?"

"Lois?" Sam couldn't believe his eyes. A smile spread over his face, but then he looked over at Clark. He was pulling a gun out of his pocket and aimed it at Lois. He could hear the loud firing of the gun in slow motion. "No!"

* * *

A/N: I decided to leave you with a cliff hanger! Man, I feel awful, but that seemed like the best place to end it! Thank you everyone for the nice reviews. I hope I can keep this up to your liking. Leave your thoughts on the new chapter and I'll try and update soon. :D


	3. Bullets in the Wall

Bullets in the Wall

Lois saw the gun before Sam did. She immediately hit the ground once she saw the gun and prayed the bullets would stop and none would ricochet and hit her. Where did he get another gun from? She thought that he had run out of bullets _and_ guns! And why the heck was the General here right now?!

"Stop shooting her!" Sam yelled at Clark.

Clark didn't hear anything. He was back to being the killing machine he'd been created to be. The one that Sam helped create.

Sam didn't know what to do. He saw a lead box on the table. He hoped that it was kryptonite as he reached over and grabbed it. He opened the lid and exposed the green rock. It began glowing because of a kryptonians presence.

Clark shot one more bullet before he started feeling the effects. He looked to Sam and then down to the rock. He remembered this rock. It was what they used when he failed a mission. He had only failed one once.

He fell to the ground and began moaning in pain. Sam left the open box beside Clark as he went to Lois. He didn't need Clark getting up and trying to kill Lois a different way. "Lois, are you okay?"

"What are you doing here?" she asked as she stood up. Lois started brushing off bits of the wall from herself.

"I came here to get Clark. What are you doing here? You've been missing for three years!" Lois paused and she heard Clark's moans. "What did you do to him?!" she exclaimed as she ran to the other side of the couch. Clark was spread out on the ground in obvious pain. Lois took the gun away and put the kryptonite back into it's box. Clark's color came back and he stood up as if nothing had happened. He looked to Sam. "Do I wait for you to leave before I complete my mission?"

"Your mission?" Sam asked tentatively.

"Kill Lois Lane." Clark stated.

"What?! They sent you to kill Lois?!" Sam yelled. He knew that they were hiding something from him! He could only imagine what else they were hiding from him. "No! Don't kill her."

Clark nodded. "I need the confirmation from Justin."

"Clark, just don't do it okay. You don't need Justin's confirmation."

Clark narrowed his eyes. "I'll make that decision on my own."

Lois watched them interacting. Sam knew where Clark was this entire time and the way she saw it, he knew what had happened to Clark. He might've even been involved in making Clark the way he was now! "Daddy, you had better not be involved in what happened with Clark." Lois fumed out.

Sam looked at Lois with an annoyed expression. "I'll take Clark now." he said as he was about to grab his arm.

"Whoa, you're not going to go anywhere until some things are explained. Besides, what makes you think that you just take him away from me!"

"Lo, I don't need to explain anything to you. Clark, we're going back to the base."

"Why are you going to take him to the base?!" Lois yelled. "There are some things that you don't need to know and this is one of them." "Not when it has to deal with Clark. Do you know how long I've wondered what happened to him after we _both_ were arrested?!"

Sam gave Lois a weird look. They never told him that Lois was arrested also. They only told him about Clark. "They had you?"

"You didn't know that?" Lois didn't believe him one bit. "How involved are you with what they did to Clark?" she asked. Lois was afraid of the answer.

Sam sighed and he looked away. "I've been involved since day one." he said with shame in his eyes.

Lois' hand went to her mouth in complete shock. "How could you!" she yelled as she threw her hand down to her side. "You knew that he was a good man! How could you just sit back and watch them do all kinds of horrible things to him!? This was _Clark_! Farm-grown Clark that had never done anything wrong!"

Clark watched them arguing. They were yelling his name, but they weren't even talking to him. It seemed that Clark used to know Sam in the past, but he didn't remember how. The first memory that he recalled of Sam was when he first woke up in that cell.

"Yes Lois! I knew the every fact about him! I probably know more about him than you do!" Sam yelled as he pointed a finger in her face.

"What does that have to do with anything?! You were involved in this!" Lois threw her arms up in the air.

"And you have no idea how long I've been trying to get out!"

Lois couldn't take it anymore. She didn't care if Sam didn't want to do it. He still ended up doing it. Her dad played a part in Clark feeling completely numb. How dare he! He took him away from her. She wasn't ready for that and neither was Clark. "Get out." she whispered as tears formed in her eyes.

"Lois, if you'd just let me explain!" Sam insisted.

"No! I don't want your stupid explanations! Just get out of here and never come back!" Lois yelled. She wasn't going to cry in front of him. She had too much pride to do that.

Sam's face hardened and he turned around. "If that's what you want Lois." he said. He opened the door and walked out, making sure that it slammed.

Lois sat down on the couch and broke down. She didn't care if Clark was there. He wasn't _really_ there anyways. He had no memory of the time they spent together. He only knew her name and that was it. Nothing deeper.

Clark saw Lois sitting on the couch. The same watery substance he'd seen before was now pouring out of her eyes. He sat down and furrowed his eye brows as he tried understanding. "What are those?" Clark asked.

Lois looked up at him and she brushed them away. "What are you talking about?"

Clark's brows came closer together. He reached out and touched her cheek where a stray tear had fallen. "This. What is it?"

Lois closed her eyes at his touch. It felt so nice and familiar, like she was coming back home after a twenty year hiatus. "They're called tears." Lois answered him.

Clark pulled his hand back and looked at his wet finger. "Why is it coming out of your eyes?"

Lois was going to get frustrated, she knew that. These were simple questions that a two year-old could answer. "Because I'm being so weak and pathetic right now." she said as she sniffled and wiped her eyes. Lois remembered the General's words grimly. 'Tears are for the weak. Lane's aren't weak.'

"You're not weak." Clark said with all sense of seriousness in his voice.

Lois gave him a weird look. "What do you mean?"

"I can't kill you. I can kill anyone I wanted, but I can't kill you." Clark cocked his head and looked thoughtfully at her. Clark had met a lot of people and usually, he would have figured them out in less than five seconds, but not with Lois Lane. She was a completely different story. She made him…feel, if that was even possible for him. He couldn't explain it correctly. But then she _had_ been yelling at Sam, one of the only people that he liked from the base. He didn't like that.

Lois blushed slightly. "Was that supposed to have come out as a compliment?" she tried making her voice sound light.

"What's a compliment?" Clark asked. He pushed his last thought to the back of his head. He was going to go over it later.

Lois sighed. "Never mind. Do you still want to look at some of those pictures?"

Clark nodded his head and Lois got up to pick up the scattered pictures. She found a particular picture that she didn't know even existed. She assumed that Jimmy must've taken it when they weren't looking. It was at Chloe's and Jimmy's wedding. Her and Clark were on the dance floor staring into each others eyes. In that moment, everyone around them had disappeared. Their faces were inches apart. Of course fate had to intervene and they were never allowed the kiss of a lifetime. She wondered if maybe they had been given the chance to kiss, would things be different?

Lois brushed away the tears that sprung to her eyes and she picked up the pictures and walked back to Clark. She gently placed them in his lap, treating the photos as if they were antiques. "These are all the pictures of your friends and family. You're even in some of them."

Clark looked through some of them. His eyes were blank as he carefully took in every detail. Lois studied his face wishing that he would show some kind of emotion. There was nothing.

She sighed as she leaned against the couch. She looked at the wall with the bullet holes in it. Clark had tried killing her for the second time that day, yet here she was sitting close to him. All of this was insane. None of this was supposed to be happening to them.

A thought occurred to Lois and she began wondering for why Clark tried _shooting_ her. Couldn't he just burn her to ashes with just one look? It wasn't like she _wanted_ that to happen, she was just wondering why he chose not to use his powers.

* * *

Chloe walked out of the store with all of her groceries in her hands. She bought some eggs, milk, coffee, and ice cream. Chloe figured that Lois was going to need some ice cream before the week ended. Who knows what kind of emotional roller coaster they were going to go through.

Chloe heard a gust of wind behind her. "Can I help you with those bags ma'am?"

Chloe turned around and saw Bart. He was in a dark red shirt with jeans on. A smile spread over her face as she soon forgot about the events of this morning. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a little peck on his cheek. Chloe didn't care if she showed public display of affection. She loved her boyfriend. "What are you doing here? I thought Ollie had you off on some mission in Turkey or something?"

"I finished early," Bart grabbed some bags from Chloe's hands and they started walking to her car. "So I decided that I wanted to come and see my favorite girlfriend."

Chloe laughed. "You make it sound like you have more."

Bart shrugged his shoulders playfully. "You never know…"

Chloe punched his shoulder. She popped open the trunk to her yellow car and her and Bart put the bags inside.

"What have you been up to this last week?" Bart asked as they stepped inside the car.

Chloe turned over the engine and prepared her car for driving. "Nothing really. Lois came over…along with someone else…" Chloe said awkwardly. She pulled out of the parking lot and started driving back to her apartment.

"Really? I thought Oliver made her stay in Star City so he could keep an eye on her."

"Oliver didn't tell you? About a month ago he decided to let her go back out, hoping that nobody would really recognize her face."

"Okay, then what about the person she came with?" an idea came to Bart's head and he didn't like it one bit. "Did she get a boyfriend?"

"No! It's just…complicated."

Bart frowned. "I guess I'll just have to see when I get there." he turned his eyes to the lowering sun.

"You won't believe who it is." Chloe said with a sad smile on her face. As happy as she was to have Clark finally back in the physical sense, it was never going to be the same in the emotional sense. Whatever they did to him, it seemed like it was going to be permanent. Maybe not even Lois could bring him completely back.

Chloe eyed her purse where she kept the hidden kryptonite. Since Clark came back, she had put one in there. Was it really wrong to keep something like that with her at all times? If it wasn't, then why did she feel guilty?

* * *

Chloe unlocked the door with Bart behind her carrying the groceries. She had been gone for almost two hours and to be honest, Chloe didn't know what to expect. She opened the door and the sight she was welcomed with caught her completely by surprise. Lois was asleep, leaning on Clark's shoulder. She looked like she had absolute peace. Clark didn't seem to notice her leaning on him as he was flipping though some pictures. But what really shocked her was the bullet holes in her wall.

"Chloe could you please get out of the doorway so I can get in. I don't have super-strength." Bart said from behind her. He still hadn't seen the scene in the living room.

Bart's voice startled Clark. He threw down the pictures and stood up. Lois went crashing down on the sofa. "Who are you?" Clark demanded referring to Bart.

Bart looked over Chloe's shoulder. "No way…"

"Gosh Smallville." Lois moaned as she lifted her head. "What was that for?"

Clark ignored Lois as he stared down Bart. "Who are you?" he asked again, this time in a more firm voice.

"Dude, don't you remember me?" Bart couldn't hide the pain in his voice.

"Don't take it personally. He's tried killing Lois already." Chloe said as she walked in and threw her keys down on the table. They landed with a small jingle. "Just take a look at my wall."

Bart walked in behind her. He couldn't keep the bewilderment off his face. He set down the bags, never looking away from Clark.

"Hey Chlo, Bart." Lois said groggily as she got up to look at what Chloe bought.

"Lois, please explain to me what happened to my wall." Chloe said as she put her hands on her waist.

"Right…Clark went nuts again and tired killing me." Lois said it as if it were the most natural thing. "I've got his gun in my pocket so you don't have to worry." she said flippantly.

"What is going on?!" Bart exclaimed at both women. He looked back to Clark. "And why is he looking at me as if he's about to incinerate me?"

Lois sighed as she walked back to Clark. "Clark, don't worry. He's one of your friends. He's Bart, remember?"

Clark frowned as he tried pulling up a memory. Nothing. "You're lying." Clark said as he took a step back and stared hard at Lois.

"No, I'm not lying." Lois insisted. She could see anger burning in his eyes. He might try killing her again. "Look, there's a picture in here with you and him." Lois said as she grabbed the pictures and started looking through them. She found the picture and showed it to Clark. It was of him and Bart in the Talon. There were several empty plates on their table, all of them belonging to Bart. They were both laughing in the picture. Chloe must've taken it.

Clark took the picture from her hands and examined it. He compared the Bart from the picture to the Bart standing before him. He narrowed his eyes at Bart, but took a seat and decided to let Bart live.

Lois let out a breath of relief. "Glad there wasn't another fire started." she said.

Bart hated being out of the loop. "What the heck is going on here?"

"Clark came after Lois and he tried killing her." Chloe started. "Oliver found them both before Clark could do any damage. They brought him over to my apartment and here we are now."

"Oh and the General came by. I don't know how he found us, but he's involved in what happened with Clark." Lois added sadly.

"What? Where is he?"

"I kicked him out."

"But he might've known how to help us." Chloe couldn't believe Lois didn't think about that. She needed to put her differences with Sam aside and get over it!

"No, Chloe. I didn't want to deal with him. He knew who Clark was! How could he sit back and watch him die inside?"

"I'm with Chloe on this." Bart interjected. "If he came here, then maybe he actually wanted to help?"

Lois shot him a death glare.

"Or maybe not…" he added after Lois' look.

Chloe sighed as she watched Clark. He had picked up the pictures again and was looking through them. "Has anything changed?" she asked.

"No." Lois sighed.

Chloe put a hand on Lois' shoulder. "Let's give it a few more days. You and Clark should go to sleep." Chloe needed to be positive for Lois right now.

Lois nodded and she walked to Clark. She put her hand on his leg. Clark didn't flinch this time or move away. Instead he looked down at it curiously. He set down the pictures and picked up her hand. He looked at it carefully. "Why does it burn?" he finally asked.

Lois sat up straight with alarm. "What burns?"

"Anywhere you touch me." he said with such confusion in his eyes. Maybe it was because she had enough power to make Sam leave.

Lois held back her tears. "It's because we are such close friends."

Clark didn't show any sign of smiling.

Lois grimaced at his lack of emotion. "Well, it's time you get to bed. You're going to sleep here on the couch."

"Where are you going to sleep?"

"In the guest bedroom."

Clark nodded. "When is Sam going to come back?"

Lois looked over at Chloe. She was sitting in the kitchen talking with Bart. "Does he really have to come back?"

"I want him to. I know who he is. And he needs to tell me if Justin confirmed the cancellation of the mission."

Lois rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe Clark was telling her about this. She was goal of the mission! Why was he consulting his prey? Lois shrugged it off and decided to ask him about Sam. "What do you know about Sam?"

"He's a good man."

Lois sighed. "All right. I'll see if he can come over again."

Clark nodded and he started preparing the couch to be slept on.

Lois stood up and walked back to the kitchen. "I'll see you in the morning Chloe, and Bart I had better not see _you_ in the morning."

Bart smirked. "Don't worry Lois. I wouldn't do that just yet. Besides, I'm leaving anyways." Bart said as he stood up. He leaned down and gave Chloe a kiss. "See you tomorrow Chloiscious."

Chloe rolled her eyes at Bart's ridiculous pet name for her. "I'll see you too."

Bart turned to look at Clark. "See you Clark."

Clark lifted his head and looked at Bart. "Bart." he tested the name out on his tongue. It was all right. Not as good as the way Lois felt, but he liked it nonetheless.

* * *

Sam stormed into the base. He was mad. No, he was worse than mad. He was furious! How could they do this to him?! He walked into Justin's office.

Justin was just pouring himself a glass of brandy. "Ah, Sammy. Just in time. Would you like a drink?"

"What were you thinking sending him on an assignment like that?!" Sam yelled, ignoring any comments Justin had made.

"What was wrong with the assignment _I_ gave him?"

"You sent him to kill _my_ daughter! Lois! How could you do that to me?! How could you do that to _him_! You know what had been going on between them!!"

Justin took a drink from the small class cup. "I just want to point this out. You used past tense. There is nothing going on between them anymore. But how did you find out about it?" he asked.

"You honestly thought that I wasn't going to find out?"

"I asked you a question."

"And I didn't give you an answer!"

"Did you look for him?!"

"I did." Sam knew what to say next. "The apartment was empty and he wasn't there."

Justin looked over some papers on his desk. "There's a GPS device on him. Look it up and find his coordinates. We need to get him back."

Sam narrowed his eyes and left without another word. He walked to his office and pulled out his phone. He dialed a numbed and only hoped that someone would pick up.

* * *

Lois looked up at the popcorn ceiling. It was midnight and she couldn't go to sleep. Chloe had gone to sleep right after Bart left, which had been once Lois went into her room. For the past two hours she had been counting. She had been counting for so long she had to start inventing names for her numbers.

This was becoming so hopeless. It was as if she was wearing a hundred caffeine patches after drinking thirty cups of coffee.

Her phone began ringing and she was so grateful for a distraction. "Hello?" she answered softly. She knew that Chloe and Clark were asleep in the other rooms.

"Lois, it's your dad."

Lois groaned and she was about to hang up.

Sam knew this and he started yelling before she could have the chance. "Lois wait! This has to deal with Clark! If you don't listen to me, you both could be in a lot of trouble."

Lois frowned. "What is it?"

"They have a tracking device on him. If they don't send me, they could send out several men and they would _not_ hesitate to kill you. And of course, they would take Clark back. I know that you don't want him to be taken back do you?"

Lois rubbed her face. "Do you know where it is?"

"It's on his right upper arm."

"All right. I'll go look for it right now."

Lois hung up the phone and walked off the bed. She scrunched up her nose at the cold sting of the floor. She decided to skip over the slippers, considering how much noise they made and instead pulled up socks.

She opened the door quietly and walked across the hardwood floor. She saw Clark laying on his stomach. Somehow, his shirt had ended up off his back and on the ground. Some things never changed and she was grateful for that. Now she got to watch his back moving up and down with his breathing. It was amazing how muscular his back was.

Lois pulled her mind out of the gutter and she walked to the couch and knelt down. Lois was about to shake his shoulder, but then she took notice of his face. It was twisted up in pain as if he was having a nightmare. She lightly put her hand on his shoulder.

Clark's eyes flew open and he grabbed her wrist. He began squeezing it tightly and stared at her with fury in his eyes.

"Clark, let go. You're hurting me. It's Lois!" she exclaimed in a pained whisper.

Clark let go of her hand. "Why did you wake me?" he asked. He didn't even apologize or ask if she was fine.

"I need to look for something that's on you."

"What is it?"

"A tracking device. If it stays on you, then the people that had you will come to take you back."

Clark considered this for a moment. He sat up and turned on the lamp. "Look for it then."

Lois looked down at his bare chest. It was more muscular than she remembered. She gulped. "It's on your arm. Your right one. Can I see it?"

Clark stretched his arm out for her to see.

Lois looked it over and noticed something strange. There was an open sore with green puss coming out of it. This was infected and worse, it was infected with kryptonite. "Whoa, what happened here?"

Clark looked at where she was going to touch and he pulled back. "Don't touch it."

Lois pulled her hand back. "Does it hurt?"

Clark looked down at it and nodded.

"Then that's where they probably put the GPS. I'm sorry Clark, but we're going to have to take it out of you."

"It's going to hurt." Clark stated the obvious.

"Only for a little bit, but that way we can be sure that you don't get taken away and that I don't get killed."

"I'm supposed to kill you either way."

Lois rolled her eyes. It was starting to get unnerving at how much he reminded her of this fact. "But you're not because you can trust me."

Clark didn't do anything, he just eyed her. As much as he was starting to like this Lois Lane, he never trusted anyone.

Lois stood up and crept into the bathroom. She pulled out some small pliers and a wet cloth along with some bandages. She took a seat on the coffee table and braced herself. "This is going to hurt a little, so you need to be ready."

Clark clenched his jaw and nodded his head. "Do it."

* * *

A/N: I hope this wasn't too big of a cliff hanger. :P Those kind of cliff hangers are going to be pretty frequent in this story...please don't be mad! Aside from that, I hope you enjoy this chapter and thank you everyone for all the nice reviews. Keep leaving them and I'll try and update soon. And Happy Mother's day for all that apply!


	4. A Warm Bowl of Chicken Soup

A Warm Bowl of Chicken Soup

Lois looked down at the green infection. She looked to the pliers in her hands. The rate of her heartbeat was clearly indicating how scared she was. This was going to hurt him and she didn't want to be the cause of it. Lois had no idea how he might react. Sure, Clark knew that she was going to pull it out, but still. Lois had to admit it to herself. She was afraid of him.

Her head lifted up and she looked into his eyes. They were blank, but along with the blankness, there was a coldness that she couldn't shake. Lois longed for his warm blue eyes again. The ones that could make her feel so happy, but then make her completely annoyed.

Clark's eyes had begun dulling a long time ago. They started going cold when they were both stuck in that horrible place.

* * *

_Lois pulled her knees to her chest and she hugged them tightly. She was alone again. Earlier in the day they had taken Clark. She looked over at the wall where she and Clark would count the days they were here with a piece of rock that would leave a brown streak. They were on day thirteen. Figures it would be the thirteenth, an unlucky number._

_The walls around her were completely white and bare. In a small corner there was a metallic toilet, much like the ones in prison. Across from the toilet was a single cot with a lumpy mattress and a stained blanket. The blanket was torn on the edges where Lois would tear off pieces to provide a home made bandage for Clark. There was also stains of blood on it. Most of it was Clark's._

_At nights, Clark would always insist that Lois would sleep on the cot and he would take the floor. He would even let her have the blanket even if it was stained with his blood. They stopped caring about those kind of things after the first five days. _

_When she would wake up from her sleep, she would see Clark curled up in a ball. He would be shivering even though he claimed he couldn't feel heat or cold air. Lois assumed their captors were doing something to change that. She would take the blanket off of her and lay it over him._

_Every day it was the same thing. They would take Clark first then while he was gone, they would come for her sometimes. Whoever these people were, they really wouldn't do much to her. Sometimes they would tie her to a chair or just leave her in another room. Twice they started questioning her, but they wouldn't get anywhere with her sarcastic responses. _

_Lois didn't know what they were doing to Clark, but she didn't like it one bit. Every time they would leave him in their cell again, he was always bleeding profusely. Other times, he was completely unconscious._

_The door opened and two men came in dragging Clark. Lois watched them as they dropped Clark to the ground. Every muscle in her body was yelling at her to attack them, but she learned the hard way not to do that._

_The first time she had attacked one of their captors, something happened to Clark. He started writhing around on the floor in pain. It was like nothing Lois had ever seen before. When Lois pulled back and went to Clark, he became better._

_The men that had dragged Clark in kicked him once in the stomach before leaving. Clark began groaning softly._

_Lois waited for the door to be closed before she went to Clark. She grabbed Clark's head and held it gently in her lap. "Clark, are you all right?"_

_Clark's face was beaten. His left eye was swollen shut and he had so many cuts scattered all over his face. His lip was swollen and was bleeding. Lois didn't even want to see how badly the rest of his body had been beaten. Clark opened his eyes, even though it pained him. He needed to see her. He needed to make sure Lois was all right. "Hey, Lois." he answered with a weak smile. Her face always made him feel better, even if it was minutely._

_Lois swallowed down the knot in her throat. Why was he trying to be so brave for her? He didn't need to. "What did they do to you?" she asked in a whisper._

_Clark grimaced as he adjusted himself. "Not much, just what they do every day." Clark tried lifting his head and getting up, but Lois just pulled it back down._

"_You are not going to be going anywhere. You need to get some energy." Lois ordered._

"_I'm fine, Lois." Clark insisted._

_Lois scoffed. He was such a horrible liar. She could see it in his eyes that they had told him something. Whatever is was, it was clouding his eyes with sadness and fury. "No Clark. Look, you are hurt. Get that through your thick skull. What is it with you men? Or is it just kryptonians? Tell me what happened." Lois let a small pause fill the air. "What did they tell you?"_

_Clark moaned softly as his hand went to his rib cage. There were most likely several broken ribs. Clark was trying to avoid Lois' question. Maybe if he closed his eyes, she would think that he passed out. But he could never do that to Lois. He could never make her worry over him like that._

"_Clark, what did they tell you?" Lois repeated her question._

_Clark sighed. "Nothing Lois." he mumbled._

"_Then what did they tell you?"_

"_Lois, go to the bed and stay there." came a voice over the intercom._

_Lois looked around and sighed. It was time for them to bring her and Clark some food. She really didn't want to leave Clark, but she had no other choice. If she didn't, they would make him start hurting. "Don't worry Clark. We'll get out of this." Lois said. Every time she was forced away from him, she would always tell him this. Lois grabbed the blanket from the cot and balled it up. She placed it under Clark's head and she made her way to the bed._

_Once they were sure Lois was seated on the bed, the door opened and the man that always brought them their lunch came in. Most of the time he would bring half-eaten sandwiches or some type of slop, but this time he brought a large bowl of chicken soup. "Decided to change up the menu." he said smugly as he set down the tray beside Clark._

_Clark clenched his jaw as he forced himself to a sitting position. He wanted to get up and attack him, but he was so weak. Just sitting up brought a searing pain all over his body._

"_Guess where we got the soup from." the man whispered to Clark. He didn't wait for Clark's guess. "From her kitchen. It was on the stove when the police came in and found her body."_

_Lois furrowed her brows, wondering what the man was talking about, but Clark seemed to understand. He let out a low growl and tried standing up. He only fell back down in defeat._

_The man smirked as he stood up and walked to the door. _

_Clark found new resolve and he somehow managed to stand up. He began walking towards the lunch bringer. Lois saw him standing up and he was walking with a slight limp. "Clark, don't!" Lois yelled at him, knowing fully well that they could bring him much pain in his weakened state._

_The lunch man turned around when he heard Lois and saw Clark standing right behind him. Clark delivered a punch to his face when he turned around. Clark punched him again in the stomach with exceptional force considering his weakened condition._

"_Clark! What are you doing?!" Lois yelled as she got up and ran to him. She pulled him back and looked into his face. It was twisted up in anger, but his eyes were the worse. They were dull on the edges and cold in the center. It didn't even look like he was looking at her. Lois took his cheeks into her hands. "Clark, look at me."_

_Clark forced his face away from Lois and he looked to where the man was. He had gotten away while Lois had been distracting him. Clark spun around and looked at Lois, somehow his pain had been completely forgotten. There was a coldness in his eyes as he stared her down._

_Lois could feel chills going down her spine as she continued looking into his eyes. "Clark, look at me." she repeated, trying to keep her voice steady._

_Clark's eyes began clearing and he blinked a few times. "Lois?" he started breathing heavily and he collapsed to the ground. Lois bent down with him and held him as he cried. She didn't know why he was crying, but that didn't matter. All she need to do right now was hold him._

_Lois' eyes couldn't help but travel to the bowl of chicken soup. Whatever significance it held, it set off a bomb inside of Clark._

* * *

Lois would give up everything that she had, just to make things normal again. She would even give up her memories of knowing Clark's origins, just to have him completely back. She wanted her Smallville back.

"What are you waiting for?" came Clark's cold voice.

It was a harsh reminder that there was going to be a long road before things could ever be normal again if that was even possible. "Calm down. I didn't know that you were so eager to start hurting again."

Clark looked down at the infection. He had seen worse, but it had always been on other people, never him. "Just get it over with."

Lois nodded. With the pliers in her hand, she carefully maneuvered it into the infection. She could see Clark clenching his jaw as he swallowed a yell. His hand was looking for something to grip. Lois dug around in the infection. She could only imagine how much it must've been hurting Clark. She felt something weird and she started grabbing at it. She pulled it out and saw a small GPS device covered in red and green gunk. Lois quickly set it down on the table and placed a large bandage over the open wound. It was weird because not much blood was coming out of it.

Clark was still hurting and his hand desperately needed something to hold. Lois set down the small device and quickly grabbed his hand. "I'm so sorry." she said as she rubbed her thumb over his hand. Much like she did when she held him that night in the cell.

Clark looked up at her. He looked like he was still in some sort of pain, but Lois' touch seemed to ease it. What was so special about her? He tired fighting the warm feeling that was coming over him.

Lois didn't like the look that was coming over his face. It was completely unreadable, but she could see the turning wheels in his head coming up with some kind of idea. Lois had no idea whether this was good or bad. Whatever he thought of, she was scared of his reaction. "Clark? Are you okay?"

Clark was snapped out of his thinking and he looked to Lois. "That hurt." he said it as if it were the oddest thing in the world.

Lois scoffed. "I don't doubt that they put kryptonite in you, just to keep your leash short. But that doesn't explain why you weren't going all weak…" Lois started thinking deeply, trying to figure out what they had done.

"What are you talking about?" Clark had heard that word before, but he never knew what it meant.

"Kryptonite?" Lois frowned. He was _supposed _to know what that meant. Did they erase his memories? That would explain why he wouldn't use any of his abilities.

Clark nodded his head, waiting for Lois to continue.

"How much do you know about what you can do?" Lois asked cautiously.

Clark frowned. He didn't understand the question Lois asked him. He couldn't help, but feel angry. Why couldn't he understand? "What do you mean?" he asked intensely.

Lois could hear the annoyance in his voice. She didn't want to make him mad. "How about we talk about this in the morning?"

"Why not now?"

"Because I'm tired. And you need to get some sleep too." Lois said. She stood up and grabbed the GPS in her hand. She was going to give it to Oliver. Maybe he could trace it to the owner.

Clark began glaring at her. He wasn't tired. He could keep going for two weeks without sleep. That's what they taught him to do in his training. Learn how to endure and adjust. He was just going to have to learn how to endure and adjust to his new location.

Clark watched Lois leave. Sam had said the mission was cancelled, but he never received approval from Justin. Maybe tomorrow he could kill Lois. Right now he didn't feel like killing anyone which was completely out of character for him.

* * *

Justin swilved around in his chair. He didn't trust Sam. From the first day that he was brought in, he never trusted the man. He knew Clark on a personal level, it made his judgment hazy in the things that they did to him. He would protest when they were trying to mold him into becoming the greatest governmental weapon. Maybe their ways were unconventional, but it got the job done. Sam was the reason why it took Clark so long to transform into the man he was.

"Stewart," Justin started speaking over the speaker. "I need you in here now with the GPS locater."

"Right away Mr. Bartlett." Stewart's shaky voice came from the other line.

Justin continued swiveling in his chair as he waited impatiently for him to come in.

There was a soft knock on the door. It opened and Stewart poked his head in. "I, um, I've got what you wanted…Mr. Bartlett." Stewart stuttered.

"Let me see it." Justin stood up.

Stewart came in and handed Justin the screen. Justin took it greedily and looked at it. He saw the blinking red dot. It was still at the address Sam had supposedly gone to and claimed there were no traces of their Assassin. He _knew_ that Sam couldn't be trusted.

Justin averted his eyes to Stewart. "Send out a squad of men to this address _immediately_." Justin demanded.

"Ye-yes sir." Stewart said as he attempted a salute. He started walking out the door.

Justin's voice stopped him before he could get any further. "Instead, hold off on that squad. I want you to go there and report to me what you find out. If he's there, then we'll send out a squad."

"You want _me _to go?" Stewart asked with surprise in his voice. The only thing that he was good for was fixing their computers. He wasn't secret agent material

Justin nodded his head and gave Stewart a look that told him to get out at that moment. Stewart quickly left the room and Justin was alone once again. He looked over to a framed picture on his desk. It was of all the men and women involved in this project. It was barely a handful. He looked over to Sam Lane who was standing in the corner. One of his cigars was sticking out of his mouth and he looked hard. Now, he had just become a big push-over. He knew that Sam wasn't good for this job. Justin was going to have to take care of Sam himself.

* * *

Chloe started mumbling once her alram went off. Was it really time to get up? She really didn't want to go to work today. Yesterday was just really weird for her. Clark came back practically like an android, he tried killing Lois _twice_ in one day, the General was involved in what happened with Clark, and Bart…well what else could she say? Just saying Bart could explain a _lot_. She had to wonder for a moment if she had actually been dreaming. This was just too weird to really be happening.

Her legs swung over the side of the bed and her feet subconsciously found her worn slippers. She turned off the alarm and walked to her door. Chloe made her way to the kitchen for her cup of coffee. She looked at the couch where Clark was supposed to be sleeping. It was empty. Maybe yesterday really had been a dream.

She poured herself a cup of coffee and drank it black. That's how she always drank her first cup. After she would finish, she'd pour herself another cup, but would put some sugar and milk into it. Chloe took a sip as she looked out to her balcony. There was someone standing outside. Chloe couldn't suppress a groan as she realized that it was Clark. He was wearing the same clothes that he had on yesterday. Black shirt and dark jeans.

Chloe missed seeing that familiar red jacket and blue shirt on him. It was just part of who he was. She wondered if he was ever going to go back. As much as she hated to, she greatly doubted that idea.

"Hey Chlo." Lois grumbled out as she walked out of her room.

Chloe looked at her and could tell she didn't get a good sleep. "Good morning Lois. Looks like you didn't get a wink of sleep last night."

Lois just grunted as she grabbed a cup and poured herself some bean juice. She added her sugar and milk and drank it in two gulps. Lois looked out at Clark. "How long has he been standing there?"

"I don't know. I just got up and he was there."

Lois nodded. "I need to talk with you then." she said in a whisper.

"Uh, if this is something Clark can't hear, did you forget about his super hearing?" Chloe asked.

"I don't think that he's going to be listening in. Besides, if he did, then he wouldn't even be able to understand what we would be talking about."

"Okay…" Chloe was intrigued by Lois' mysteriousness. "What is it?"

Lois grabbed more coffee and walked to the small dining table Chloe had. "Yesterday, when Clark tried killing me, he pulled out a gun." Lois said it as if it were the most scandalous thing.

"Um, he was trying to kill you. What else would he pull out?"

"No, you're not getting my point. _Why_ did he pull out a gun? If he has all these powers, why didn't he just use one of them?"

Chloe widened her eyes in realization. "I don't know…Do you think that they put something in him?"

"Maybe. Last night I pulled out tracking device from him."

"What?! They were tracking him?" Chloe began worrying about their safety. If they were tracking Clark, then they could very well come in here and take them all.

"Yeah, he's fine. I think the infection is starting to heal." Lois said.

"There was an infection?!" Lois' statement only made Chloe worry even more.

"Chloe! Stop yelling!"

Chloe winced. "Sorry."

Lois shook her head and started drinking her second cup of coffee. "But I brought up the word 'kryptonite' and he had no idea what I was talking about." Lois said quietly.

Chloe frowned. "Do you think they somehow managed to wipe out his memory of his powers?"

"I don't know. The first time I was met up with him, he _did _use his super-speed. I was going to call Oliver, though and see if he can find out who the owner of the GPS is. But there's also something else that I need to do."

"What is it?"

"I need to call her and tell her what's going on."

Chloe searched her mind and she couldn't remember anyone that Lois might be talking about. "Who?"

"Mrs. Kent."

"Oh." Chloe said awkwardly. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Why wouldn't it be? For all we know, she thinks Clark's dead. Isn't that what they told everyone?"

Chloe sighed. "They did announce it on the news…"

"She doesn't deserve to be out of the loop." Lois continued pleading her case.

Chloe finally gave in. "All right. I'll call her and see we could go over tomorrow evening. But I'll only do it on one condition."

"Which is…?"

"We need to make sure that we have a piece of kryptonite around at all times. There's no telling what Clark might do."

"Chloe, I'm not going to bring him pain!" Lois said as she recalled how much Clark had been hurting last night.

"Lois, we don't know what Clark is capable of anymore. He might turn around and freeze you right now."

"He won't do that, Chloe." Lois hid the uncertainty in her voice well. She wanted to trust Clark so badly, but there was always that small part of her brain that was continuously telling her to be careful.

"And why not?" Chloe continued.

Lois hesitated before she answered. "Because he's Clark!"

"He's not Clark anymore." Chloe said a little more sympathetically. "Who knows if he'll ever be Clark again. If we can't bring him back to full capacity in a month, then we need to start learning how to live with the new Clark. Teach him how to respond to new people and new situations."

Lois looked out at the balcony. Clark was still there, but she noticed that while they had been talking, Clark's straight posture had begun to haunch slightly. She sighed, not wanting to follow through with Chloe's plan. It was resourceful yes, but she still didn't want to do it.

"Lois…I know that you don't want to do it, but please. If anything do it for him. I mean, if Clark ever does come back and he finds out that he hurt you, it'll kill him inside. He'd understand if you used kryptonite on him to protect yourself." Chloe continued proving her point.

Lois turned her hazel eyes to Chloe. "All right. I'll do it."

Chloe gave her a grim smile. "I'm going to have to go to work today, and after what happened yesterday, I don't know if I want to leave you alone with him."

"So who are you going to get to baby sit us?" Lois crossed her arms and looked at Lois.

"Bart's busy and I don't think that Clark likes Bart right now anyways…" Chloe said a bit thoughtfully. "I'll try and get Oliver here, but who knows how fast he can be here."

Lois nodded. "Then I'm going to go change and have some more coffee." Lois said as she stood up.

Chloe wathced Lois walk to her room. Lois paused for a moment and looked outside at Clark. She could tell that Lois wanted to go to Clark and just be with him. But then she looked over at the wall with the bullets and she took a few steps back and started walking to her room.

* * *

Chloe looked at her watch. It was nine thirty and Mr. Zima, her employer, was going to kill her. She was late and she had to counsel some new person. Chloe didn't know if this person had issues with parents, were suicidal or something completely new. It was probably going to be something along those lines. It was what she did now. She was a professional therapist. Even if she may have met some weird people, she enjoyed it. Chloe knew that the reason why she changed career paths was because she wanted to help people. Just like Clark used to do.

"Where is he?" Chloe wondered out loud to herself.

"Is Sam coming?"

Chloe looked up and saw Clark sitting at the table in the kitchen. She forgot that he was there eating something strange that he made himself. "Um, no. Oliver's coming. He's going to stay here until I get back."

Clark narrowed his eyes. "Oliver was the man that shot me."

Chloe forced herself not to roll her eyes. "You tried killing Lois." she shot back.

"Because it's my mission to do so." Clark said he thought a moment before he added something else. "And I still need to complete it."

Chloe did _not_ like his statement. "You aren't going to kill Lois."

Clark didn't say anything. He just went back to eating whatever it was he had made.

The door opened and Oliver came in. "Good morning, Chloe. Aren't you supposed to be at work?" Chloe spun around and looked at Oliver. "Yes Oliver! But I had to wait for you! What took you so long?"

"Sorry. I got held up at a bank. Some guys were trying to rob it. I couldn't just keep driving." Oliver said with a shrug of his shoulders.

Chloe nodded understandingly. "I want you to keep a close eye on Clark." she whispered. "Make sure he's always in the same room as you and that you have kryptonite with you."

"Um, you seem really worried about something." Oliver said as worry started coming over his face. "What happened?"

"Clark just said that he's going to finish off Lois." Chloe said. She looked at Clark. He seemed completely oblivious to their conversation. "I don't even know if I want to go to work anymore."

"Chloe, don't worry about it. I've dealt with pshycopaths. I'm sure I can handle Clark. Besides, Mr. Zima would be pretty pissed if you didn't show up."

Chloe sighed. "You're right. But don't forget about Lois. I don't want her being unsupervised either."

They heard Lois scoffing at the entrance of the living room. "You make it sound like I'm a three-year old that gets into everything." Lois said as she walked to the kitchen.

Chloe held her breath and waited for Clark to get up and try something. He didn't even acknowledge her presence. "Just watch them both carefully and keep kryptonite with you at _all_ times." Chloe reminded him.

Oliver nodded and Chloe said her good byes. She walked out of the apartment and left Oliver alone with Lois and Clark.

Oliver sauntered towards Lois and Clark. "So, how's everyone feeling this morning?" he asked.

Clark looked up at him, but didn't respond. It was almost as if he was trying to see through Oliver and see his true intentions. He didn't trust Oliver, but he wasn't going to let that show.

"Hey Ollie," Lois greeted as she started drinking her fifth cup of coffee that morning. Lois gave Clark a quick glance before she looked back to Oliver. "I've got to talk with you." Lois said as she led Oliver out of the kitchen.

Oliver groaned inwardly. Great, something else was wrong. "What is it this time?"

Lois pulled something out of her pocket. "Last night, I pulled this out of Clark. It's a GPS."

Oliver took it from her hand and looked at it. "They were tracking him?" he asked in a hushed voice.

"Yeah. Do you think that you can trace it to the person who owns it?"

Oliver frowned as he turned it over in his hands. It looked like there had been red and green stuff covering it. "I could try."

"Thanks Oliver." Lois said as she patted his arm.

Oliver nodded his head and Lois started walking back into the kitchen. "Hey Smallville. What are you eating?"

Clark looked up at Lois and answered her, even though she called him by her _affectionate_ nickname for him. "Lettuce, peanut butter, and cheese."

Lois grimaced at Clark's food. How could he eat that stuff?

"Are you going to explain to me what kryptonite is now?" Clark asked. Lois could hear a slight annoyance in his voice.

"Um, how about later?" Lois looked over at Oliver. He was sitting on the couch and looking at the GPS. If she was going to explain this to him, she didn't want Oliver to be around.

"How long will it be?" Clark asked as he poked at the lettuce on his plate.

Lois sighed. Did he really want a straight-forward answer? "I don't know. We're just going to have to see." Lois could see him clenching his jaw. She wondered what he was thinking. Did he still want to kill her? If he did, what was stopping him? She let out a prolonged sigh. She just wanted things to go back to normal. Even if they couldn't go back to normal, she at least wanted him to feel again.

* * *

The smell of baking potatoes was coming into the living room where she was sitting down an watching TV. It had been a while since she turned the TV on. Her graying hair, just couldn't takee all the horrible things that were going on in the world. She had made her mark on the world and she was glad of the changes she made, no matter how small they were.

The oven timer began ringing and she got off her seat and quickly turned off the oven. She put on her oven mitts and pulled out her potatoes. She recalled for a moment when all she had to do was call her son down to the kitchen and he could get it out with no mitts on.

Her cell began ringing and she quickly pulled off her mitts. It was an unknown number. She debated whether or not to answer it. So many people would call her asking her ridiculous number of questions. She wondered for a moment why her number was still listed. She answered it as friendly as she could. "Hello this is Martha Kent."

"Mrs. Kent." came the female voice on the other end. "This is Chloe."

"Chloe?" Martha didn't think she would ever here her again. After what happened with Clark, they knew it was best to stop visiting each other. That was what everyone did that was associated with Clark. Except Chloe still had some contact with Oliver and Bart, but the world didn't know that they had been friends. "It's been so long since I've heard from you! How are you?" Martha said with a smile on her face.

"I'm doing good. I know that we agreed not to see each other anymore after what happened but would it be all right if me and two other…friends visit you at the farm?" Chloe's voice sounded strained.

Martha didn't really want to deal with new people. They were all trying to get to know her just so they could know more about Clark. But this was Chloe and she sounded kind of worried right now. "Is everything all right?"

"Sort of…do you think that we could come over?"

"Sweetie, you know that it might not be a good idea. I can still hardly go out of my house. If reporters saw you coming here, they would have a field day."

"Mrs. Kent, you know that I would never ask something like this from you if it weren't that important. Please?"

Martha sighed. It would be nice to see Chloe again. After they told her Clark had died and that Lois went missing, life had been so hard. "All right. When would you like to come over?"

"Do you have any plans tomorrow tonight?"

Martha thought for a moment. "No I don't think so. I'll make some chicken soup."

* * *

A/N: I finally made some time to update. Life's getting crazy. I wanted to reassure everyone that things _will _be explained. Probably not as soon as you'd want it to be, but yeah. :) Thank you everyone for your nice reviews! Hope you enjoy this next chapter.


	5. A Happy Dog

A Happy Dog

Lois sighed as she looked up to the clock on the wall. It was three thirty and she was bored. All day she had been coped up in Chloe's apartment with two men. One of them wanting to kill her because of her annoying quips and the other wanting to kill her because it was his mission. Oliver had let her help him start figuring out where the tracking device came from, but they really couldn't do anything since the internet connection in Chloe's apartment kept going on and off. After the internet completely shut down on them, they retreated to the living room where Clark was and started watching TV.

Lois took a seat on the other end of the couch Clark was seated on and Oliver sat on the single couch. Lois' eyes wandered to the lead box that was kept on the table. Chloe had left it there. Seeing the dull gray of the lead didn't make her feel wrong, it was the kryptonite that she knew was concealed within its walls. It made it worse knowing that Oliver had a lead box with kryptonite in his pocket too.

This was for the best she kept telling herself. She looked over to Clark who was watching TV at the moment. If it was for the best why did it feel so wrong? Lois re-ran Chloe's words in her head. _If Clark ever does come back and he finds out that he hurt you, it'll kill him inside. He'd understand if you used kryptonite on him to protect yourself. _She would only be protecting herself. If she ever learned anything from the General, it was to always keep yourself protected at all times.

"When's Chloe supposed to be back?" Oliver asked as he looked at his watch.

Lois was pulled out of her thoughts and looked at Oliver. "She's supposed to be back around three or four." Lois told him.

Oliver let out a prolonged sigh and his head fell back on the couch.

Lois shook her head and started watching TV. Clark had the remote and he was changing the channel every five seconds. "Clark, could you just decide on a channel already?" Lois asked sounding annoyed.

Clark looked at her. "There is nothing on that I would enjoy watching."

"Well what do you enjoy watching? Maybe Chloe has a movie or something." Lois said as she got off the couch and walked to the cabinet where Chloe kept her movies.

Clark thought a moment. What did he like seeing? The only thing that he was used to seeing was people dying. He, of course, would be the one to kill them. When he killed someone, he usually prolonged their death, enjoying every moment of their suffering. They would beg him to kill them already, but he never listened. His superiors only sent him to kill people who deserved it. All of the men and women he killed were enemies of America. He never knew what they had done wrong, but he didn't ask questions about it. It didn't matter anyways. He was supposed to kill them either way.

Clark wondered what else Lois had done to be placed on his hit list. He understood that she help someone that was an enemy, but there had to be something more. If there wasn't anything else, they would've sent someone else to kill her.

"Clark, what do you want to see?" Lois said.

Clark began focusing on Lois again. To be honest, there was nothing that he really liked. If you would've asked him a week ago what he liked seeing, he definitely would've said seeing people suffer. But now, he wasn't so sure. He looked into Lois' eyes. It was all her fault. She was making him feel indescribable things.

The door opened and Chloe came in. "Hey guys." Chloe did a quick head count to make sure there wasn't anyone missing. She began panicking when she didn't see Lois' head, but then she saw her on the floor looking through her DVD collection.

"Hey Chloe." Lois said with a smile.

Oliver stood up. "Thank goodness you're back. I was so bored." he complained. "I swear Chloe, you have to get that internet connection in here fixed."

Chloe chuckled and shook her head. "Don't ask me what happened there. Bart supposedly got me a great deal, but who knows how he did it or what he did."

Oliver chuckled. "I've got to go. There's some stuff at the office I have to take care of." he said. "See you Lois, Clark."

Clark nodded his heads and Lois said good bye. Oliver walked out and left Chloe alone with Lois and Clark. "So what did you do today?" she asked Lois as she set down her purse.

Lois stood up and walked towards her. "Nothing! Oliver wouldn't even let me walk out the door. I was bored. And then your internet connection sucks." her lower lip slightly jutted out.

"I know. Ollie already told me how much it sucks." Chloe looked nervously to Clark. He was staring at the TV, but she doubted he was even watching it. "How was Clark?" she whispered.

Lois looked over at Clark, then looked back to Chloe. "Fine. He didn't try anything." Lois replied in the same volume.

Chloe nodded. "Oh, I called Mrs. Kent."

"Really?" Lois said, her voice sounding lighter. "What did she say?"

"We're going over to the farm tomorrow night and she said that she was going to make some chicken soup."

Lois frowned. She remembered how Clark reacted to the chicken soup in their cell. She didn't know if he was going to react in a similar matter, or if he would even remember it.

* * *

Lois handed Chloe the last dirty dish. The three of them had finished up dinner and Clark was outside on the balcony again while Lois was helping Chloe pick up. "There. That's all the dishes." Lois said as she looked around to make sure her statement was true.

"Thanks Lois." Chloe said as she wiped her wet hands. Her kitchen was clean again and she looked around in approval. "I've got some work to catch up on. Please don't do anything I wouldn't." Chloe said.

Lois smirked. "When have I done something like that?"

Chloe raised an eyebrow and Lois just laughed. "Don't worry about me Chlo. I won't do anything stupid. Besides, you're just going to your room. It's not like you're traveling half-way across the world."

Chloe sighed. Lois did have a point. Maybe she was being too over-protective. She patted Lois on the arm and went inside of her room.

Lois rubbed her wet palms on her pants and looked outside at Clark. What was he thinking? Even if he was a cold, heartless killer, he still had that Kent stare. Lois decided to go out there and see if she could talk with him.

Lois pulled on a light sweater and opened the door for the balcony. She closed it and stood next to Clark. He didn't seem to notice that she was there. "Hey Clark."

Clark lifted his head when he heard his name. "Lois." he said her name to acknowledge her presence.

"What are you doing out here?" Lois asked. She pulled the sweater closer to her body to keep her warm from the cool night air. She looked out at the Metropolis skyline. Maybe that's why he was out here. He was just admiring the beautiful night.

"Thinking." came Clark's answer.

Lois sighed. Could he be any vaguer? "About what?"

Clark looked at her. "Why do you ask so many questions?"

Lois let out a small laugh. "I used to be a reporter." she smiled grimly as she remembered the last article that she ever wrote. It was the one that told the world Clark's secret. It was the only one that she regretted writing every moment that she breathed.

"A reporter." he repeated. He could see her as a reporter. She definitely seemed like she would get into a lot of trouble for stories. Clark's thoughts quickly changed and he remembered she promised explaining some things to him. "Can you tell me what you meant last night?"

Lois grimaced. She knew this was coming, but she really didn't want to do it. She didn't know where to start. "So, do you know that you have super-human powers?"

Clark nodded his head. "Yes. If I wanted to, I could snap your neck in half within a millisecond."

Lois' stomach churned. That was a nice example. "Yeah. But do you know what you can do?"

"I have great strength, I can run faster than anyone in this universe, and my skin is impenetrable." Clark stated them with great pride.

"So why did you use a gun?" Lois asked.

Clark's face hardened. "I was taught not to use my abilities unless it was imperative."

Lois' eyebrows came together. "What did they do to you?"

Clark brought his face close to Lois'. His warm breath tickled her face. "They made me who I am today."

Lois clenched her jaw as she felt anger course through her body. She was going to find whoever did this and make sure that they were brought to justice. But now it was her time to ask a question. "Do you ever remember when they put that GPS in your arm?"

Clark turned away and looked back at the skyline. "I don't know."

Lois placed her hand on top of his where he held on tightly to the guard rail. "Can you try and remember?"

Clark concentrated as hard as he could, searching his head for anything, but there was nothing. He looked at Lois and shook his head.

Lois tried to hide her disappointment, but Clark saw it. He didn't want her to be disappointed with him. Clark searched his head harder this time, closing his eyes to block everything out. He couldn't find anything. He could only remember the faces of the people he had killed and the ones that he worked for. Clark recalled his first memory, waking up in that dark room. He tried remembering past that night, but a shock of energy went through his head.

Clark let out a short yell and he grabbed his head. He slid down to the ground still holding his head.

"Clark! Clark what is it?" Lois asked as she sunk down to the ground with him.

Clark started breathing heavily, the pain that came from his head left just as quickly as it came. He looked up at Lois. She could see the pain in his eyes. "What is it?" Lois asked in a softer voice.

Clark looked around. "I don't know." he said quietly. "I tried remembering and…my head…" Clark tried fitting the puzzle pieces together, but to no avail.

Lois frowned. "Did it just start hurting when you tried to remember?"

Clark nodded. His eyes found Lois'. For the first time since he came back, Lois could see fear in them.

* * *

Stewart held back a yelp as he accidentally pricked his finger with a thorn from the bushes he was hiding in. It was night and he could hardly see anything. He was across the address where Justin had sent him, at least he hoped so. Stewart didn't understand why Justin sent him. He could've sent a number of different men, but he chose Stewart. He understood why he didn't send Mr. Lane, but what about everyone else. _They_ were more than qualified. Stewart was just a computer geek who wore pocket protectors and had barely moved out of his mom's basement.

He pulled out the night vision binoculars Justin had given him and began focusing them in and out. Stewart couldn't see anything suspicious. Was Justin sure this was the right address? Maybe Mr. Lane was right and Clark wasn't here. He looked inside all of the apartment windows. There was nothing. Stewart sighed heavily as he stood up. He was going to have to check every side of the building or else Justin would have his head.

He stepped out of the bushes. A couple walking down the sidewalk gave him strange looks as they quickened their pace. Stewart could feel his cheeks burning and he brushed off all the twigs as he walked across the street. From what he had found on the blue prints of the building, the back of the apartments had balconies. Stewart walked there to see if he could spot anything. Nothing.

"So much for a raise." Stewart mumbled out as he kicked a stray can.

"Clark! Clark what is it?" Stewart heard someone yell.

Stewart looked up and brought the binoculars to his eyes. He focused on the top balcony and saw Clark sitting on the ground with Lois beside him. Stewart slowly lowered the binoculars. "Oh no."

* * *

The next day was about the same as the previous day. Chloe left to work while Oliver stayed and watched Lois and Clark. Lois hadn't told anyone about what happened to Clark on the balcony and Clark seemed to have completely forgotten about it anyways.

Oliver had been up last night working on figuring out where the GPS came from. Once they find that out, they could go to that place and maybe there was something there that could bring Clark back. Oliver told Lois that while they were gone, he was going to see if he could ask Victor if he could help them out. He promised her that he wasn't going to reveal any details.

Once again they were sitting on the couch watching TV. Lois was leaning on Clark's shoulder and was starting to doze off, but was still conscious of what was going on.

"So Clark, how do you like living with two women?" Oliver asked, trying to make conversation.

Lois assumed Clark stared at him blankly since he didn't answer.

"Um…okay…" Oliver said awkwardly after Clark wouldn't answer. "How's your arm?"

Lois could feel Clark tensing up. "How did you find out about that?" he asked.

"Lois told me. She was the one that-"

Lois heard a gush of air and her head fell to the couch. She could hear Oliver starting to choke. She opened her eyes and saw Clark standing with Oliver's neck in his hand. "Do not ask anymore questions about that."

"Clark! Let him go!" Lois ordered him.

Clark heard Lois, but he chose to ignore her. "Do you understand?" he continued with Oliver.

Oliver began grunting as he reached in his pocket for the kryptonite he kept there.

"Clark set him down! Now! He's your friend and you don't want to hurt him!" Lois continued yelling as she got up and was now pulling on his free arm.

Clark let Oliver drop and he faced Lois. His killer instincts came back and he lifted his fist to deliver a death blow to Lois' face.

Lois could see the beast in him and she tried her best to hide her fear. "Go ahead. Kill me." Lois told him. Half of her mind was yelling at her telling her not to be so stupid and the other half was telling her to run for her life. But she stood her ground.

Clark held his fist there in mid-air as he contemplated his choices. This was easy. Kill Lois Lane and just get it over with. What was so hard about that?

Lois could see Oliver on the ground struggling with the lead box. "Don't open it unless I say." Lois told him. Not once did she look away from Clark.

Clark began breathing heavily through his nostrils and his fist began shaking slightly.

"Come on Clark. If you were sent to kill me then just do it. Don't you want to go back to your base so you can be sent off on another mission to kill some innocent person?" Lois said.

Innocent? Were all the people that he killed really were innocent? Justin had told them they were traitors to America. Justin wouldn't lie to him, right? Clark let his fist fall to his side. "It's not true." he mumbled.

Lois let out a small smile, happy because of her victory. She let it fade away as soon as she remembered what Clark had done to Oliver. "I don't _ever_ want you to do that again. Do you understand?" she said as she pointed a finger in his face.

Clark gave her a strange look. What gave her the right to boss him around? "And I'm supposed to listen to you?"

Lois took a step closer to him. "Yes."

Clark felt intimidated for half a beat, but it never showed in his eyes. Lois backed down and went to Oliver's side. "Are you all right?" she asked him as she helped him up.

"Yeah." Oliver answered. His voice was scratchy. "I think I'm going to have a bruised neck for a while though." he said as he began massaging his neck. Oliver looked down at the box in his hands. "You know I could've died because you didn't want to open it." he said holding the box up to her face.

Lois sighed. "I know Oliver and I'm really sorry about that. I didn't know that he was going to do that!"

Oliver ran his fingers through his hair. "Lois, you can't do this. If Clark is on the verge of killing someone, he needs to be stopped _immediately_. I understand that you both went through some pretty heavy stuff while you were in that cell, but he's completely changed."

Lois clenched her jaw. She wanted to argue with Oliver on this topic. She remembered what Chloe had told her and she remembered what the General would always say, but this went against everything she believed in. "I'll decide when it's best to bring out the kryptonite." she replied.

Oliver narrowed his eyes. The door opened with the most impeccable timing ever. "Hello everyone!" came the cheery voice of Chloe.

Clark was the first on to greet her. "Chloe." his voice was colder than ever before.

Chloe closed the door and stood there trying to figure out why Oliver and Lois were having a staring contest. "What's going on?" she asked.

Oliver turned to Chloe. "Nothing." he replied shortly. He walked away from Lois and grabbed his coat. "You're here and I'm leaving."

"Wait, what happened to your throat?" Chloe asked as she noticed the bruises.

Oliver turned and looked at Lois. "Why don't you ask her." he didn't wait for Chloe to come up with another question. He walked out the door and slammed it shut.

Chloe sighed as she looked at Lois to Clark. "What happened?"

Lois looked at Clark and Clark looked back at her. It was almost as if he was daring her to say anything. Lois looked away from Clark. "It's a long story…"

Chloe closed her eyes. She knew that she wasn't going to like what Lois had to say. Chloe might as well start preparing herself. She didn't want to explode on either or them. "I don't want to know right now, but you're going to tell me later." Chloe said to Lois. "Go get ready. I told Mrs. Kent that we would be there in an hour."

Lois smiled and took off to her room with a bounce in her step. Chloe looked at Clark. "What kind of trouble did you cause today?"

"I haven't killed Lois yet." Clark said it as if he couldn't believe it himself.

Chloe smiled grimly. "That's a very good thing Clark. You don't want to kill Lois."

Clark looked down and thought about her words. What if, for one time, he forgot about his mission and didn't go back to the base? What if he didn't kill Lois? Three times he had already been given the opportunity to kill her. The first time, that was just bad luck. The second time, did he miss her on purpose? And now this third time, why couldn't he just do it?

Lois stepped out of her room looking refreshed. "All right. I'm ready. Let's move."

* * *

Chloe parked her car in the gravel drive way. They were at the Kent farm. Chloe faced Lois who was sitting on the passenger side then to the rearview mirror where Clark was sitting in the back. "Do you remember anything Clark?"

Clark looked around and shook his head. "Why are we at a farm?"

Chloe and Lois both let out a small sigh. "It was worth a try." Lois said.

Chloe nodded and they all stepped out. Chloe walked ahead, but Lois lagged behind as she watched Clark.

As soon as he stepped out of the car, Lois could tell that he felt some kind of recognition. The way he squinted his eyes as he took in everything around him. Lois could only hope he was actually remembering something. "Come on Smallville. Stop gawking." Lois said as she grabbed his arm and started leading him away. They joined Chloe on the back porch where they were waiting for the door to be opened.

Clark looked around with confusion on his face. Lois noticed it. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Clark sniffed the air. "I smell chicken soup."

Lois looked at him weird. _That_ was random.

Martha was in front of the mirror in her room making sure that she looked presentable. She heard a long sigh next to her. She looked down and saw Shelby laying by her feet looking depressed. Martha smiled grimly and she bent down. "Come on Shelby. We're having company. You have to be happy, okay?"

Shelby had never been the same after Clark had gone. Shelby only thought that he was just taking a long time to get home from work, but Martha knew what happened. The police came and told her. There was an explosion. He was trying to save some people. He saved everyone except for himself. Martha didn't believe it at first, but when she saw the scene and scattered pieces of kryptonite she broke down into tears.

Martha stood up straight and looked at a picture that was on her nightstand. It was a family picture taken when Clark was eight. She picked it up and looked fondly at Jonathan and Clark. The two most important men in her life. The ones that she lost.

Shelby picked up his head and began sniffing the air. "What is it boy?" Martha asked as she put the frame back in its place.

Shelby got up and began running down the steps, his tail happily wagging behind him. Martha smiled. It had been a while since he wagged his tail like that.

* * *

"Why are we standing here?" Clark asked with impatience in his voice.

Lois rolled her eyes. "Because we are waiting for the door to be opened. So chill."

Clark narrowed his eyes, but continued standing there. They heard a scratching at the door and could see Shelby. He pushed the door open and ran to Clark. He began jumping all over the place and his tail would not stop wagging. Clark looked down at Shelby and for the first time in a long while, he let a small smile come over his face.

Lois and Chloe felt joy come over them as they saw that small smile. Sure, it might be nothing compared to other people, but this was a huge break through.

"Shelby what are you…" Martha started saying, but her words got caught in her throat. She couldn't believe who had come with Chloe. It was Lois and Clark. They were here. Clark was alive and Lois wasn't missing.

* * *

Stewart walked out of the diner. He was trying to stall as much as he could. He knew that Justin was going to blow his top. He looked at his watch. It was late and Justin had probably been pacing for hours.

He took a deep breath and pulled out his phone. He needed to gather as much courage as he could. He dialed the number and started walking.

"What did you find out?" Justin didn't even say hello.

"Um, so…I, uh, went to the apartment…" Stewart dragged out.

"And…?" Justin asked.

"Well…" Stewart was so scared right now. "I, uh, found him…there."

Justin cursed. "I knew we couldn't trust Sammy."

"Um, sir, that's not all…"

"What else could there be?" Justin raised his voice.

Stewart gulped. "He wasn't alone. Lois Lane was with him."

Stewart didn't hear anything on the other line for a few moments. He actually started thinking that Justin went into cardiac arrest. "Uh…sir? Are you still there?"

"What the heck is she doing there?! How could he have not killed her yet?!"

"S-sir! You have to understand that they have a deep connection!" Stewart began blubbering into the phone. "You…we…it was a mistake sending him off to kill her!" Stewart yelled. The people around him gave him odd looks. He lowered his voice. "Even if we have both of the devices on, he could break away from the control."

Justin grumbled in the phone. "Whatever. I'm going to send in some men to get him back right now."

"Yes sir."

"Stewart, when you come back, I want you to increase the voltage on the second device."

Stewart frowned. "Are you sure? What if it kills him?"

"Then figure out a way to bring him back to life!" Justin hung up the phone before Stewart could say something else.

Stewart hung up the phone and walked slower. How could Justin be so cruel? They were talking about a life! Sure he may not be human, but he was still a person nonetheless.

Stewart was definitely in some deep trouble. And it all started when Justin came knocking on his front door. Stewart grimaced. He couldn't believe that he actually thought Justin really was working for the government.

* * *

A/N: Hello everyone, I hope this next chapter answered _some_ questions. Lol, sorry it's taking me forever to reveal what's going on! The next update is going to be in a little over two weeks. We're going on a missiong trip to Mexico for two weeks. I'm super excited about it, but I didn't want to leave you guys hanging on, wondering what was going to happen. Thank you everyone for the reviews!


	6. Sleepless in Smallville

Sleepless in Smallville

Clark looked up from the incredibly happy dog and stared at Martha. The smile from his face dissipated. Chloe and Lois couldn't tell what Clark was thinking, or what kind of reaction he was going to have.

"Clark? Lois?" Martha mumbled out as her hand went to her mouth.

Lois gave Martha a toothy grin. "Hey Mrs. Kent."

Martha smiled and she pulled Lois in for a deep hug. "I thought you were gone for good!" she exclaimed. "Where have you been all this time?"

Lois gave her a half-smile. "I've been around…"

Martha let go of her and looked at her son. The one that she thought had died. "Clark." she said with a smile. She walked near him, but he took a step back. Martha paused. This couldn't be happening.

Clark furrowed his brows. "Who are you?" he asked quietly. It wasn't demanding like when he asked Bart. Instead it was more gentler, like he knew this woman would never in anyway hurt him.

"Sweetie, it's me. It's mom." Martha's voice started quivering. Clark wasn't the same. Martha knew it. She had noticed it when she first laid eyes on him.

"Um, could we go inside. We'd like to talk with you." Chloe said.

Martha didn't look away from Clark and nodded her head in a daze. She opened the door and let them in. Martha wanted to go up to Clark and hug him tightly, never letting go of him, but he didn't know who she was. It was just like that time in the hospital when he came back. The time Lois Lane barged in on their lives.

"Um, Clark, why don't you go sit on the couch while we talk with Mrs. Kent for a minute." Lois said once they were inside.

Clark nodded his head and walked to where Lois indicated. He took a seat and delved into his thoughtless mind.

"What happened to him?" Martha asked. She was trying her best to keep her voice steady. "They told me he was dead."

"That's what they told me too." Chloe said. "I didn't believe it and I believed it even less when Lois came back and told me what was going on."

"What do you mean? You know why he's like this?" Martha asked as she took a seat at the table.

Lois and Chloe followed her lead and took a seat. "I was held captive for about a month along with Clark." Lois didn't want to bring Martha any emotional pain. She could only imagine how much she had to go through every day. People coming by wanting to get a picture of her, trying to go through the barn, just to get something that belonged to Clark.

Martha didn't say anything. How could she say anything? She had just been told, quite bluntly, that Lois and Clark were held captive.

Lois waited for Martha to say something before she continued. Martha never spoke, so Lois finished telling her story. "About a month later, I was able to escape." Lois gulped down the guilt she felt. When she escaped, she had to leave Clark behind. She pushed away the thought.

"Once I was out of the place, I went to look for the nearest phone. I didn't know who to call. The police couldn't help any, and I didn't want to get either you or Chloe involved. I called Oliver, he was the only one that I knew could handle this. He came as fast as he could and picked me up." Lois looked down and grimaced. They had such a big argument when he picked her up.

"Ollie took me to his apartment in Star City and I stayed there for about three or four months. He told Chloe that I was back and she visited me as often as she could. Ollie finally loosened my leash a little bit and he let me out in the world some. I got a job in a small town close to Metropolis and got an apartment under Oliver's name. By that time, almost everyone had forgotten about Lois Lane and Clark Kent. Ollie still wanted me to be careful though.

"I would go to work and come back to my place. Sometimes I would visit Chloe after I had permission from Ollie. That was pretty much the life that I led. Pushed out of the fast lane and slid onto a country road."

Martha smiled sympathetically and grabbed Lois' hand. She turned her head and looked at Clark. He was staring blankly at a wall. Shelby was sitting by his feet and Clark's hand was rubbing his ear. Martha smiled a real smile. If Clark wasn't thinking in the loft, he would be in that same position.

Martha could see how much Clark had changed just by looking at his eyes. She may not be able to point it out to anyone, but she knew. They were the eyes of a murderer, of a man that enjoyed seeing people suffer, completely different than Clark's caring, soft blue eyes. They were even different from Kal-el's who always showed leadership, power, and glory in them.

"Mrs. Kent, I know that this was a lot to dump on you," Chloe started. "Are you okay?" Chloe was a bit worried that an emergency trip to the hospital might have to be made.

Martha sighed quietly and looked at Chloe and Lois. "I want my son back and I'm going to do everything in my power to get him back. I'll pull some strings that I still have and figure out who ordered this done." she said in a firm voice.

Chloe and Lois nodded their appreciation. "We brought him here kind of hoping that something would bring up some kind of memory." Chloe said.

Lois forced a gulp down. She still hadn't told her what had happened to Clark when he came close to remembering something. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to bring him here. She shook her head mentally. No, Clark needed to be here. Martha deserved to know.

Martha stood. "The chicken soup's ready. Let's see if some of my cooking could jog his memory." she walked into the kitchen and pulled down some bowls.

Chloe got up and started helping her serve the soup and drinks. Lois walked over to Clark. For a moment, she was afraid to disturb him. What if he snapped at her? Lois ignored that annoying doubt and sat down beside him. He tilted his head slightly, knowing that she was there.

"Dinner's ready." Lois said as she fought back a sneeze. She missed Shelby so much, but she didn't miss the allergies that he brought to her.

"What are we having?" Clark didn't look at her.

"Soup."

Clark let go of Shelby and looked at her. "What kind of soup?"

"Chicken soup." Lois said, not allowing her voice to quiver. Last time someone offered him chicken soup, he almost killed the person. Lois believed that he wouldn't kill her, but there was always that little voice in the back of her mind that told her otherwise.

Clark's head tilted even more. He smelled the air and could point out which smell the chicken soup was. It was so familiar, just like everything else here. He looked down at Shelby. "I've had chicken soup before." he paused a moment, trying to think back without that pain interrupting him. His eyes looked to Lois' face. "It's a delicious soup."

* * *

Bart ran up the stairs in the apartment building where Chloe lived. He was running slow for his own liking, but compared to a normal person's standard, he was running pretty fast up those stairs. He knew that Chloe told him to call whenever he was going to come by, but he really wanted to surprise her. It was nothing special, he just wanted to see her.

He looked down at the two roses he held in his hand, the florist had intertwined their stems. A dozen was way too much for him and even these two intertwined roses were a bit expensive. Chloe would be happy with just two. Besides they were a special two roses.

Bart arrived at Chloe's floor and started walking to the end of the hallway where her place was. He knocked three times and waited for a few moments. He knocked again. "Chloe? You in there?" he called out the second time.

Chloe still wouldn't answer. Bart frowned. It wasn't like her not to answer the door and it wasn't past eleven yet. She wouldn't be asleep. He grabbed the door knob and as he did, he could feel it turning. He wasn't doing the turning, though. The door opened and a man stood there in a black outfit, he was carrying a heavy duty gun. He grabbed Bart by the shoulder and pulled him in, keeping the gun planted in his back.

"Look who was at the door." the man said after the door was shut.

There were four men dressed in black, including the one that held Bart. Their faces were covered by a ski mask. Bart noticed something strange. They were all wearing a necklace with a small green rock. Kryptonite. These men might very well be the same men who took Clark and twisted him. If they could do that to Clark, who had such a strong will and a good heart, Bart couldn't imagine what they might be able to do to him.

"Who is he?" asked another man. He seemed to be the leader since he had two big guns. The other three only had one.

"Don't know. He was looking for Chloe." said the man that found him.

The leader grunted and walked towards Bart. He put his gun under his chin and lifted it up. A flicker of recognition passed through his eyes. Bart saw that and his heart began pounding. "Take him in." he said.

Bart felt something hit his back. It hurt _bad_. It was worse than being electrocuted. He groaned softly and his eyes rolled back. His body fell limp on the floor, the two roses laying dejectedly beside him.

The leader pulled out a phone. "Sir, he's not here, but I think we've found someone else that you might be interested in."

* * *

Lois laid on the bed looking up at the white ceiling. She was in Clark's old room. After supper, Martha insisted that they stay the night. It had been such a long time since she'd seen them all and she wanted them to stay as long as they could. Clark was downstairs asleep on the couch while she and Chloe were sharing Clark's old room. After Lois won a game of coin toss, she got the bed and Chloe slept on the floor in a sleeping bag.

Chloe had called Oliver to let him know where they would be. He didn't like the idea, but Chloe handed Martha the phone and she was able to convince him. Now here they were all asleep, except for Lois.

There were so many memories here. How could Clark _not_ remember? Lois groaned as she looked at the clock. It was two eighteen in the morning. She swung her feet over the bed, making sure not to wake Chloe. She opened the door and started walking down the stairs. She paused at the entrance to the living room where Clark was sleeping. Shelby was laying on the floor beside the couch. He wasn't about to leave his master.

Lois could see pain etched on Clark's face. He was gripping the pillow tightly. A few moments later, he relaxed and it seemed like his sleep had become a little peaceful, then another few moments passed and his face would twist in pain again.

She couldn't bare watching Clark like this. She walked out the kitchen door and started walking to the farm. Lois entered and wrapped her arms around herself. It was so cold. She walked up the steps to the loft slowly. Each step a memory would rush to her. She reached the top and took a seat on the red couch.

Everything was in its correct place. Just like it was the last time she was here. The men that took them did a good job at doing it cleanly.

* * *

_Lois ran out of the room, expecting the electricity to shoot through her body at any moment. She didn't care that she was going to be arrested, she would do anything to make sure that Clark's name wasn't smeared. He didn't deserve that._

_Lois felt something pick her up and then everything was a complete blur. It was Clark's strong arms wrapped around her. He saved her, again. She opened her eyes and there she was in Clark's arms in the barn. "Nice interception, but you shouldn't be here." she hopped out of his arms and looked into his face. "All the bloodhounds in the state will be sniffing you out." Why did he chose to come here? Of all places!_

"_It's okay," Clark eased as he tried calming her down. "I know this sounds crazy, but in a few moments this will all be over." Clark started walking away._

_Lois watched his retreating form. What was he talking about? How could _all_ of this be over in only a few moments? "Okay, well try me." Lois said as she hurried after him. "My shock threshold is pretty high right now."_

"_Lois," Clark stopped and looked at her. "I have a ring that allows me to go back to any moment in time."_

_Lois was silent. What could she say to that? So maybe her shock threshold wasn't as high as she thought it was._

_Clark started walking away. "I'm going to go back to before Linda Lake ever wrote that article." he stopped in front of the tool chest. Lois could see that he was trying to do what he thought was best, make the decision that didn't bring any harm to anyone. "The world isn't ready to accept someone like me." he tried hiding the disappointment in his voice, but Lois could hear it. She could always hear the emotions he tried to hide._

_Lois threw her hands in midair. How could he do this? It was the easy way out! "Then stay and fight back! Look, give people a chance to see who you really are." she didn't want Clark to give up just because people were after him._

"_It's too late, Lois." Clark turned to look at her. There was so much determination in them, but along with it, a trace of sorrow. "My whole life I've been seen different." his voice began increasing._

_Lois shook her head. He didn't get it, did he? She started walking towards him. "Some people spend their entire lives looking for a way to stand out." her voice was full of passion, hoping that he would get her point. "To be a person that anybody would call special."_

_Clark looked at her. Why did she always have to make decisions like this one hard?_

"_When you first told me who you were, I thought it was anyone but Clark. And not because of the alien thing." Lois chuckled as she thought of some guys she thought were from Venus. "I've known from guys that you can be born on Terra and be light years from normal." Lois could see that she was getting to Clark. Maybe just a little more push and he would change his mind._

_Clark thought her words over. He took a step closer to her. "Lois, you don't have to explain. I get it."_

_Lois looked at him incredulously. He really was from a distant planet, wasn't he? "No, you don't." she told him firmly, but gently. "How can someone with x-ray vision be so blind?" she said as she stepped near him. Her heart thundered in her chest, hoping against hope that he would get it. "I've been down the hero road before and every time I made a giant u-turn." Lois paused as she could feel tears filling her eyes. "But this…this was different."_

"_And this time it will be different, Lois." Clark insisted. "When I do this, no one's going to remember who I am."_

_Lois felt her heart break. "And when you hit your reset button," Lois smiled grimly. "You're not going to tell me your secret, are you?"_

"_I'm sorry." it was the only thing he said. It was the only thing that made some kind of sense to him._

"_It's okay." Lois lied. Her voice was soft, emotions showing through. "Why should I think I'm special?" she looked him straight in the eyes. "Clark, I understand."_

_Clark looked at her with amazement. Lois was so different from all the other women in his life. He liked that. "Lois, you don't understand." his voice was softer as he walked towards her. "It's because you are special."_

_Lois could feel her heat flutter as he continued looking at her._

"_I have to go." he told her. Clark turned around and began walking to the toolbox. He didn't know that with ever step he took, Lois' heart broke a little more._

"_You're not going anywhere." said a cold voice behind them._

_They both turned around and saw Linda Lake. Clark instinctively walked in front of Lois, trying to protect her. Lois moved aside and took a stand next to him. "What do you want?" Clark asked in a firm voice._

"_Hmm…what do _I_ want? Well, there's a lot of things that I want." Linda began sauntering towards them._

_Clark heard something that was out of place. It was unfamiliar footsteps. "Lois, run." he said, no longer paying any attention to Linda. Instead, his eyes were trying to find the intruders.._

_Lois looked up at him as if he was crazy. "No, I'm not leaving."_

"_Lois, just-"_

_A gunshot interrupted Clark. Clark didn't even have to think twice before covering Lois protectively. He didn't feel a bullet ricocheting though. Instead he heard the sickening gasps of Linda._

_Clark turned his head and both him and Lois looked at Linda. She had fallen on the ground and there was a taser dart sticking out of her back. Bright lights began flashing all around them. Along with the bright lights were little red dots that were aimed at them._

_Lois looked around. All the exits were blocked by men dressed in black. "Come on!" Lois yelled as she grabbed Clark's hand and began dragging him up the steps to the loft. She didn't understand why Clark still hadn't super-sped them out of there._

_Lois didn't know that Clark was feeling horrible. His chest was constricting and his breathing became labored. His blood began boiling underneath his skin._

_Lois finally dragged him to the top step. The red dots were still trying to find them. "Clark, what's the matter?! Get us out of here!"_

_Clark winced as he grabbed his stomach. He tried supporting his weight, but he began stumbling. He looked around at the men that surrounded them. They were all wearing kryptonite necklaces. "Lois…I can't…kryptonite…weakness." Clark managed to mumble out before he fell to the ground with a thud._

_Lois processed this new information as quickly as her mind would let her. She bent down and bean trying to lift him up. "Come on, Clark. I am not about to let you do this." she said with a heave._

_Clark tried his best to help her. With a few grunts, he was being supported by Lois. The red dots had started finding them though. A gun fired and Lois heard Clark yell. He knelt down on the ground still yelling._

"_Clark!" Lois yelled as she grabbed him. He had a similar taser in his back like Linda, except this one was green._

"_He's down, move in!" yelled a man._

_Foot steps began shuffling up the steps. Lois looked around. She had to go, but she wasn't about to leave Clark._

_A pair of strong arms were wrapped around her. She didn't even hear someone come behind her. "Let me go!" she screamed as the man began dragging her back._

_Three other men came up and they were all dressed in black. Two grabbed Clark's arms and the other made sure that he wouldn't try anything. A fourth man came up the steps, but he looked completely out of place. He was wearing khaki pants with a button up shirt and just looked completely nerdy. He looked up at the men in black with an uncertain look. The man watching Clark just nodded his head._

_While Lois struggled against the man that held her, she watched this new man carefully. He pulled out a needle full of green liquid. Clark began groaning even more. "Don't do this…" Clark moaned out. He was about to fall to the ground, but the man standing behind him yanked him by the hair._

_The nerd began considering Clark's words, but only for a moment. He began to inject the needle into him. Clark yelled inhumanely as the liquid was being injected into him._

"_Stop! Leave him alone!" Lois cried out as she felt tears spewing up. She fought even harder against her captor. Lois saw Clark's head fall limp and the two men let him go. He fell to the ground with a loud thump._

"_Clark! Clark get up!" Lois yelled, hoping that he would hear her._

_The man who gave the nerd the order looked to Lois' captor. "Do it." he said._

_Lois could feel him reaching for something. He pulled out a needle filled with a transparent liquid. It was an anesthetic. Lois protested, but the needle made its way into Lois' neck. Her eyes slowly slid shut as her world went black._

* * *

Lois regretted ever arguing with Clark about going back in time. If they hadn't wasted time there, then everything would've been normal. Sure, she may not know about Clark, but it would be so much better than this.

She stood up and walked to the window that was always opened. She began turning the telescope aimlessly as she looked out at the stars. Her mind began wandering about. She started thinking about Clark's heritage, his birth parents. What would they think of him now that he was a murderer? Didn't Chloe say that Clark had a connection to his birth father? Jar-el or something like that? Maybe he could help them.

A sigh escaped her lips as she leaned against the frame. What if Clark was never going to come back? Lois was going to have to learn how to deal with this new Clark.

* * *

Stewart looked at the computer screen in front of him. It had a scale and a percentage beside it. The percentage was at seventeen. Justin had ordered him to increase it up to forty-five. It wasn't enough to kill Clark, but it was definitely enough to knock him unconscious for a few hours.

Stewart's sweaty hands laid on the lever that he would use to increase the voltage. He looked up at the two men that were watching him. He gulped a little when he saw their bulging biceps. They may not have Clark's powers, but they could definitely beat him to a pulp.

His hand gripped the lever tightly as he slowly began pushing it upwards. The number on the screen increased and he stopped once it said forty-five. There, it was done. He could breath now. That was unless he was called away on some other top secret mission Justin had for him. For some reason, Justin was beginning to favor him more over all the other men involved in this project. Stewart didn't get it, but he definitely didn't question it.

* * *

Clark could feel a new presence creeping up on him. He didn't know if he was awake or in a dream. Either way, he didn't like the feeling. He had the strange sense that someone was coming up from behind him. Anytime that happened, he would always spin around and grab them, most of the time breaking their necks in the first five seconds.

His eyes opened immediately and he sat up straight looking around. He saw Chloe in the kitchen making some tea.

"Clark, what's wrong?" Chloe asked. She thought that Clark had been asleep, but apparently not.

"Nothing." he replied. He didn't lay back down, instead he was looking around. He looked down at the floor and saw Shelby looking up at him with curious eyes. Clark rubbed his face. He was actually feeling drained. He never felt that way.

Chloe poured her tea into a cup and sat on a stool. "I thought that you were asleep." she stirred in some sugar and took a sip. "Did you have a nightmare?" Chloe remembered the grimaced expression on Clark's face when she came down.

Clark couldn't remember what he dreamt. He knew that he dreamt something, but he didn't know if it was a nightmare. "I don't think so."

Chloe tilted her head, looking a bit exasperated. "Please tell me you know what a nightmare is."

Clark narrowed his eyes. "I'm not stupid." he said very coldly. For a minute he was tempted to break one of her arms. He kept himself under control though. "I can't remember what I dreamt."

"But you're sure that you did have a dream?"

"Yes."

Chloe got up and carried her cup with her. "Well, maybe you felt something while you were dreaming." she stood at the bottom of the steps.

Clark looked away from her and thought. He did remember feeling something. He looked back at Chloe. His brows were knitted together. "I remember feeling a pain in my arm and the back of my neck." his hand went up and subconsciously located the exact spot of the pain.

It almost seemed like Clark was sore. Chloe never knew Clark to get sore from sleeping wrong. "And you're sure that you can't remember your dream?"

Clark really tried hard to remember anything. Nothing came up. "I've tried, but there's nothing coming up."

Chloe sighed. "Then you should just go ahead and get some rest. We're going to have to go back to Metropolis tomorrow."

Chloe could've sworn she saw regret flash in Clark's eyes, but they returned to the cold blue. He nodded and laid back down.

Chloe gripped the handrail as she started climbing back up. There had to be something that they could do to bring up more memories. Where else could they take him? But it had to be a private place. If it were a public place, then somebody would recognize him. The police might even show up and they did _not_ want that to happen. They had to remember 'Out of sight, out of mind.'

* * *

A/N: Sorry you guys about the wait. When we came back from Mexico, I was just feeling really drained, then when I sat down and worked on this next chapter, I couldn't seem to get it right. But after a lot of revision, I think you'll like this chapter. I'd say about a week and a half before the next update. Thank you everyone for the nice reviews and keep leaving them for me to read. :D


	7. The News Roses Can Bring

The News Roses Can Bring

Oliver gently shook his crystal glass filled with brandy. Seeing the drink spin in his glass almost calmed him. He was waiting right now and he didn't do good with waiting.

"Hey boss, I'm here."

Oliver looked up and saw Victor Stone walking towards him. "Took you long enough." he said resentfully as he stood up. "Where's Bart?"

"I don't know. I sent him a message, reminding him, but he never responded." Victor offered himself a drink and poured a small amount of brandy.

Oliver frowned. It wasn't like Bart not to reply to a message. "And you're sure that it did go through."

"Yeah, got the delivery message and everything." Victor watched Oliver closely. He could tell that something was off. "Was there something wrong?"

Oliver scoffed. "There's always something wrong."

"I mean with your personal life."

Oliver turned and looked at him. "So you're finally admitting that I do have one?" he said with a smirk.

Victor rolled his eyes. "I'm being serious. Something happened and you don't want to spill it."

Oliver sighed. Something was always happening. But the thing that started bothering him had happened a whole year before.

* * *

_Oliver quickly stepped out of his Mercedes. He could see Lois standing a few yards away with her back turned to him. Just from the back she looked like a complete disaster. "Lois?"_

_Lois turned around and when she saw him, a smile spread over her dirty face. Oliver closed the distance between them, and pulled her into a tight hug. "You don't know how glad I am to see that you're okay." Oliver told her honestly._

_He could hear Lois sniffling. "We have to go get him." _

_"Lois, what are you talking about?" he said as he grabbed her shoulders._

_"Clark! They have him! We need to go back and get him." Oliver didn't know what to say for a moment. "Clark's alive?"_

_"Of course!" Lois hesitated for a moment. "I don't know how long he's going to last."_

_"What did you see?"_

_"I…" Lois gulped down a flood of tears. Oliver could see that she was still as stubborn as ever in not wanting to cry. "Look, it doesn't matter what I saw, we need to go back and get him."_

_"Well where is he?"_

_Lois looked behind her shoulder. "He's back at that warehouse. I…I tried going back for him…he couldn't…I had to." Lois finally let her tears fall and Oliver pulled her in for a comforting hug._

_"Shh, don't worry. We'll get him."_

_"I tried so hard…" she sobbed into his shoulder._

_"Look, we'll go back and get him." Oliver said as he grabbed Lois by the shoulders. "Come on."_

_Lois started walking to the passenger's side of the car, but he noticed she was limping._

_"Lois, are you all right?" he asked as he was standing on the driver's side. "Why are you limping?"_

_Lois looked up with a surprised look. "What are you talking about?"_

_"You're limping."_

_Lois looked down at her leg and she must've noticed something. Her eyes widen considerably. "Um, I'll be fine. Come on, we need to get Clark."_

_Oliver narrowed his eyes. He walked towards Lois to see what was wrong. He saw her leg and noticed blood coming out in a large quantity. "Lois! We need to get you to a hospital."_

_"Oliver, I'm fine. Think about Clark right now."_

_"No, Lois. I'm taking you to a doctor. Get in right now."_

_"No Oliver! I'm not going to leave him again! I'm not going to waste my time!"_

_"Lois just do it!" "No! Oliver, you have no idea what kind of hell I've been through! We are going to go get Clark and then you can take me to whatever freakin' doctor you want to take me to!!"_

_"Lois, I'm not arguing with you!"_

_"Then what are we still doing here?! I can last for two more days! We're getting Clark!"_

_"Lois!"_

_Lois didn't yell back at him. She got in his car and waited for him to get in. Oliver let out a frustrated sigh. He walked to the drivers side and got in. "Where do I go?" he asked in defeat._

_"Straight."_

_Oliver followed Lois' directions as she took him through various streets until they ended up on a country road. "Stop right here." Lois said._

_"Here?" Oliver said. There was nothing except for trees._

_"Oliver stop! You're going to pass it!" Lois exclaimed as she sat up straight._

_Oliver slammed on his brakes and Lois stretched out her hands to stop herself from crashing into the dashboard. As soon as he parked. Lois took off her seat belt._

_"Wait, where do you think you're going?" Oliver said as he pulled her arm back._

_"Did you think that I was going to wait here for you?" Lois said with an incredulous look._

_"Lois, your leg is bleeding. It would be better if you just stayed here. I'll find Clark."_

_"No Oliver! I'm-"_

_"Lois, if you don't stop arguing, then I'm turning this car around!" Oliver really wasn't going to turn around. He just hoped Lois wouldn't call his bluff._

_"You won't turn it around."_

_Oliver cursed inside his mind. She wasn't stupid. "Look, I don't want you getting even more hurt. I want you to stay here. I'll find Clark."_

_Lois sighed. She was feeling so tired. "It's about three minutes through those trees."_

_"Thank you Lois." Oliver unbuckled and opened the car door. _

_Lois put her hand on Oliver's hand. "Please get him back Ollie."_

_"I will, don't worry." Oliver stepped out and started walking in the direction Lois told him to._

_Five minutes in the woods and Oliver didn't find anything. Not even a clearing. Was Lois sure this was where Clark was? He walked for a few more minutes, even circled around for another few minutes, but nothing. Oliver really wanted to find Clark, but he had to think about Lois. Her leg was bleeding profusely! _

_Oliver did what he knew he was going to regret later. He turned around and ran back to the car. He knew Lois was going to be mad. Before he went in, he went to the trunk. There was some medicine in there that he could give her to calm her down._

_Oliver took a seat in the car. Lois looked at him expectantly. "Where's Clark?" she demanded._

_"Lois, I want you to take something first." Oliver said as he handed her a small cup full of medicine._

_"Oliver, I don't see Clark. Where is he?" she demanded again._

_"Lois, the medicine."_

_Lois rolled her eyes as she downed the liquid. She grimaced at its taste. "Tell me where Clark is." she said once she finished the medicine._

_Oliver prepared himself to be yelled at. "I couldn't find him."_

_"What?! How could you have not found him! It's a huge base!! Did you forget your glasses or something?!!"_

_"Lois calm down-"_

_"You want me to calm down?! Clark Kent is out there and he's going through stuff you can't even begin to imagine! Why didn't you find him?!"_

_"There's nothing out there! I was walking around for fifteen minutes and I couldn't find anything!"_

_"You probably didn't even look right! I'm going out there and I'm going to get him!" Lois said as she stepped out of the car._

_"Lois!" Oliver went out after her. "Get back in the car! I'll find Clark later, but right now I need to make sure you're fine!"_

_"No Oliver! We need to find him now!" Lois yelled as she began limping away._

_Oliver ran to catch up with her. He stood in front of her and grabbed her shoulders. "I'm taking you to Dr. Hamilton. After we get you fixed up, then we can get Clark."_

_"You don't understand!" Lois was starting to feel weak. She ignored it and pushed on. "I don't know if Clark's alive anymore." she said as tears slowly came down. "I left him Oliver. I left him behind."_

_Oliver paused. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. "I'll take you to Dr. Hamilton and while we're on our way, I'll call someone from the team to check out this place."_

_Lois took in a shaky breath. "I can't leave him out there Ollie." she said, the tears were flowing._

_"Don't worry Lois." Oliver was really hoping that the medicine would start kicking in sometime soon._

_Lois' breathing started relaxing. "I'm so tired."_

_"I know. Just close your eyes for a minute and we'll go to Dr. Hamilton's."_

_Lois nodded her head and with Oliver's help, they walked to the car. Oliver helped Lois in. By the time Oliver was sitting in the driver's seat, Lois was asleep. Oliver was glad that he had some liquid sedative in the trunk._

* * *

"Since you're not going to tell me what your deal is, what were you going to have us do?" Victor asked, taking Oliver out of his flash back.

"I was going to have you check out this warehouse."

"A warehouse? Could you explain some more?"

"That's the thing. It's just a lead. I don't even know what could be going on there."

"So then why are we going to check it out?"

"Remember Clark?"

Victor grimaced. "Yeah. We wanted him to come out of the closet. When he did, he made it a huge deal. It literally became his greatest downfall."

"He's still alive. He's staying with Chloe."

"What?! He's in Metropolis? What if someone sees him?"

"They keep him inside with Lois. I have to baby sit them both."

"Lois is there too?!"

"You're getting off subject." Oliver said with a pointed look. He didn't like talking about the current situation. "Lois gave me this GPS she found on Clark. I deactivated it and traced it back to the receiver and got the address. This is probably where they had Clark and Lois." Oliver got up and walked to his computer.

Victor followed him and watched as he pulled up a window. There was a blinking red dot. It was somewhere in rural Kansas. "You and Bart are supposed to go here. See what you can find."

"Do I go ahead without Bart?"

"No. Hang on a minute. I'll pull up the GPS on his phone." Oliver started typing and pulled up Bart's location.

"Um, is Bart's green dot supposed to be on top of the red one?" Victor asked.

Oliver swore under his breath. Bart had somehow ended up at the warehouse, but Oliver didn't know if that was entirely a good thing. "What did he do this time?" he muttered. Oliver turned to Victor. "I need you to go there and get Bart out. And try and find as much as you can on what they did to Clark."

"All right. I'm on my way." he said. He took a mental note of the coordinates before he walked out.

Oliver let his head fall into his hands once Victor left. This was not good.

* * *

Sam walked down the hallway ready to give Justin what he had coming. Sam was tired of this and all the secrecy that was going on. Earlier that day Sam asked Albert, one of his co-workers, where their secret project fit into the government. Albert said that they weren't working for the government. Steve, who was standing next to them immediately slapped Albert upside the head with a clipboard. Before Albert could ask why he was hit, Steve dragged him outside. This happened yesterday morning and Sam hadn't seen Albert since.

Stewart passed by him and he held a pile of papers and he was walking with his head down, occasionally picking it up to look nervously around.

Sam stopped and watched Stewart walking down the hallway. "Stewart?"

Stewart paused and faced Sam. "Uh, yes Mr. Lane?" Not once did he look Sam in the eyes.

Sam sauntered casually up to Stewart. "You seem jumpy today. At least more than usual. Is something going on?"

"Um…no-no sir. Nothing is going on." Stewart said, again not making eye-contact.

"Really?"

Stewart caved. He looked up at Sam and couldn't hold it back any longer. "Okay. Something is going on."

"What is it?" "I'm not supposed to say…" Stewart looked up and down the hallway as he whispered.

"Stewart, tell me." Sam said in a firm voice.

Stewart closed his eyes and sighed. "Justin sent some men to get Kent and instead they came back with someone from his past. It's one of his super-powered friends."

"What?!" "I've got to go. If they find me telling you what I know, it'll be the end of me." Stewart said as he started backing away, casting nervous glances everywhere. He turned away and began walking towards his destination.

Sam groaned. Justin could not leave the super-powered alone, could he?

* * *

Clark looked at the photo album Martha had given him. He looked at every little detail, making sure he didn't miss anything.

Martha pointed to a male African-American sitting with Chloe and another girl. "He's Pete Ross, you're best friend from High School."

Clark nodded. "Who's she?" he asked as he pointed to the raven haired girl. She seemed pretty he thought, but he could see something in her that wasn't right.

Martha looked around. She saw Chloe and Lois outside talking. It was safe to bring up the subject. "That's Lana." Martha said with a prolonged sigh. "She was your friend too." Clark noticed the changed in her tone. "Did something happen to her?"

Martha clasped her hands. "That's something that you're going to have to figure out."

Clark didn't like hearing that. Most of the time when he asked what happened to someone he supposedly knew, he would get the answer. Martha was the only one who didn't tell him. "Why won't you tell me?" his tone was impatient.

"Because I have dealt with an amnesiac Clark before. This is nothing new to me. Clark, if you really want your memories back, then you're going to have to start remembering things on your own."

Clark looked back to the photo album. He wanted to tell her that something was wrong with him. Something inside of him wouldn't let him recall any memories from his past. "I can't."

Martha let out a small scoff. "You have no idea how many times I've heard that from you. Clark, if you can do all these amazing things, then you can bring up some kind of memory from your past."

Clark looked at her. He could see that this woman had been through a lot and yet she still held onto hope. Just like Lois.

* * *

Chloe and Lois sat outside on the porch swing. It was almost time to go, but they really didn't want to. From what Martha told them, there was someone that came by everyday for a "tour" around the farm. She would never answer the door whenever it was one of those over-bearing fans. They had to leave before somebody showed up.

"Has Clark seemed like he's made any progress?" Chloe asked. She knew that Lois and Clark would spend a lot of time together.

"Last night he seemed to remember that Martha's chicken soup was the best." Lois replied with a slight grin. "But other than that, he hasn't remembered anything." Lois recalled the night out on Chloe's balcony. Maybe she should tell Chloe about that.

"Anything else that you haven't told me?" Chloe didn't know anything, but she had a feeling that Lois wasn't telling her something.

Lois sighed. "Me and Clark were out on your balcony once. We were talking and I asked him if he had any kind of flashbacks. He tried remembering something, and I think he was pretty close. Before he could remember anything, something went off inside of him. He started yelling in pain." Lois grimaced as she remembered the helpless look on his face. "I think they put something in him to keep his memories locked."

Chloe didn't know something like that was even possible. "How?"

"I don't know. I haven't told Ollie about it yet."

"You need to. Anything else that you know about Clark, you need to tell Oliver or me." Chloe said firmly as if she was talking to a child.

Lois rolled her eyes. She didn't like the way Chloe was talking to her. "I know Chloe."

Chloe sighed. "Lois, I know that you really want to help Clark, but you can't help him completely if you don't tell us everything that we need to know."

She knew Chloe was right, but if they knew everything, she didn't know if they could handle it. Besides, even if she did tell Oliver about something being inside of him, what could they do? Perform surgery on him and take it out whatever was blocking his memories? There was no way they would be able to do that. "Didn't you say something about Clark having a huge fortress up north?" Lois asked with a new interest.

"Yes, but what does…" Chloe thought before she finished her sentence. "You want to take him to his fortress to see if Jor-el can help!" Chloe said with a smile.

"Exactly. If those Kryptonians really were as advanced as Clark chalked them up to be, then anything that they did to Clark would seem like nothing to Jor-el." Lois said with a confident smile.

Chloe smiled back. Why didn't she think of that before? She took a peek at her watch. If they wanted to sneak back into her apartment, they were going to have to leave now. "Come on, Lois." Chloe said as she stood up. Lois followed suit and they both walked inside.

"It's about time we start leaving. If we leave right now, we'll get back to my apartment when most everyone is gone." Chloe said as she double-checked her watch for the time. "Thank you so much Mrs. Kent for everything." Chloe walked towards her and gave her a small hug.

"It was no problem. You have no idea how much I've missed you all." she smiled as she looked to Lois and Clark. "And to finally find out that you two were all right." tears glistened in her eyes as she thought about all those days she thought about them and how much she missed them.

"Try not to worry about us so much Mrs. K." Lois said as she stepped forward and gave her a long hug.

"How can I not worry about you? You've practically become the daughter I never had." Martha said to Lois.

Lois smiled as she heard those words. They were words she had longed to hear for her entire life. Lois let go and Martha gave her a peck on the check.

Clark stood up. "Here's your photo album." he handed her the worn book.

Martha smiled. "Keep it. I want you to look at all of those pictures everyday. Keep trying to get them in your mind."

Clark nodded. "Thank you, Mrs. Kent."

Martha closed her eyes. It wasn't right having to hear Clark call her 'Mrs. Kent.' "Please just…just call me Mom." she told him with a hopeful smile.

Clark said the word in his head. That seemed like a better name for her. "Thank you…Mom." Clark struggled to get the word out. It was too…warm, a name too caring. It wasn't like anything he was used to. He remembered several men from the base talking about their own mom's, but it had never really meant anything to him. If Martha insisted that he call her mom, did that really mean she was his mother?

Martha could see the hesitancy clouding his eyes when he called her mom. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. She didn't care if they had turned him into a killer. He was still her son. Martha knew that deep down, Clark was in there, begging to be let out.

Clark didn't respond at first to Martha's hug. His arms dangled at his sides, still clutching the photo album. But something inside of him made him start moving his arms up and wrapping them around Martha. He was hugging her back and it felt like the most natural thing in the world.

Chloe and Lois exchanged wide grins. Clark had never reacted like this with anyone. Not even with Lois. Clark was definitely starting to make progress and this boosted up their hope levels.

* * *

Chloe looked behind her as they climbed up the last steps to her floor. Having Lois and Clark with her, she preferred to go up the stairs instead of using the elevator. Clark and Lois were both wearing large sunglasses and kept their heads down most of the time, according to Chloe's instruction. This had been their first time out of Chloe's apartment and Chloe was so worried that they might be seen. That's why she asked, well it was more of ordered, them to wear those sunglasses.

They walked down the hallway towards Chloe's door. Thankfully, no one came out that might recognize Clark or Lois. Chloe opened the door to her apartment and walked in. Clark and Lois walked in behind her and closed the door.

Lois pulled off her sunglasses. "I cannot wait until we can go out in public without these sunglasses."

Chloe put her purse down on the counter. She didn't really think that they were ever going to be able to go out in the open. It was Lois Lane and Clark Kent for crying out loud. Clark Kent the alien and Lois Lane his press agent. Rumors actually had started going around that they had been dating. That ended after she "disappeared" and he "died."

"I have to agree with Lois. I see no point in wearing these useless glasses." Clark said as he tossed his to the floor carelessly.

"Clark, before they took you, you and Lois became pretty big stars. After your five minutes of fame, everyone thought that you were both dead. For you guys to come back into the public eye would be like bringing Marilyn Monroe back to life." Chloe said. She turned around and walked into the kitchen. She saw two roses intertwined at the stem. She smiled as she picked it up. It had to have been from Bart.

Lois looked around the living room and could tell that something was off. The centerpiece on the coffee table had been moved to the edge and the decorative rocks that were in it were spilled on the floor. "Chloe, do you remember moving this?" Lois asked.

Chloe came into the living room still holding the roses. "No, I don't remember leaving a mess like that. I know Bart must've come in. Maybe he did that and forgot to pick it up."

Chloe's phone began ringing. She answered. "Hello?"

"Chloe, this is Oliver."

"Hey, what's up?" Chloe asked.

"Has Bart called you at all?"

"No, but he came in here and left me a little present." she said with a soft smile as she twirled the roses.

"He came to your place?" Oliver asked again, just to be sure he heard her right.

"Yeah. Is there something wrong?"

Oliver sighed and Chloe didn't like the way that sigh sounded. "What happened?" she asked as she took a seat.

"I called Bart and Victor in to check something out for me. Victor showed, but Bart didn't. He hasn't called or anything and you know that he always calls if for some reason he can't make a date."

Chloe got a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Are you sure that you haven't missed his call or something?" she asked.

"I've checked and I've got nothing. I pulled up the GPS we put on him-"

"You put a tracking device on him?!" Chloe exclaimed as she stood up.

"Chloe, we put one on everyone on the team and they know that. It's part of the deal when you join the team. It's all about their safety."

Chloe could see the sense in that. If Clark had joined their team, then maybe they could've gotten to them earlier. "Where is he?"

"He's at the same place I was going to send him and Victor to check out."

"But isn't that a good thing?"

"Not when it might be the place where Lois and Clark were held.

Chloe took a seat back on the couch. She didn't know what to say. The roses that she held with pride slipped from her fingers and fell to the ground with a thud that only Clark could've heard.

"Victor's already on his way down there. Don't worry Chloe, we'll get him back."

Her eyes filled with tears. If these men could break Clark, she could only imagine what they would do to Bart.

"I'm so sorry Chloe. I'll let you know whenever we find something." Oliver said.

Chloe didn't reply. She hung up and set the phone down.

Throughout the whole conversation, Lois knew that Oliver couldn't have anything good to say. "What is it honey?" Lois asked as she took a seat next to Chloe and put an arm around her.

Chloe looked at Lois a few tears coming down her face. "They have Bart."

"Who…" Lois' question died in her throat. She figured out the answer on her own. It was the group that took her and Clark.

* * *

Bart held his head as he started moaning softly. He didn't know exactly what happened, all he could really remember was something hitting his back and anything after that was blank. He opened his eyes and looked around. He was in a white room with nothing except for a cot and a latrine in the corner.

Bart stood up and looked around. Where was he? He saw a camera in a corner. "Hey!" Bart yelled into the screen. "What do you want from me?!"

A door opened and closed before Bart had a chance to speed out of there. In front of him stood two men. One who looked like a middle-aged man. His brown hair was starting to gray some. The other man standing behind the first man was scrawny and pale. He had a white lab coat on and held a clipboard close to his chest. He kept his head down and never made eye contact with Bart.

"Mr. Bart Allen, am I correct?" asked the more confident man. He started sauntering up to Bart.

"Who wants to know?" Bart asked defiantly as he tilted up his head.

"Trust me, I already know all about you." the man said as he stopped five feet away from Bart. "We've learned much from our previous…experiments."

Bart tried his best not to gulp. It would show the slight fear that he had. "Oh yeah? Did you make any paper maché volcanoes explode?"

The man smirked and shook his head disapprovingly. "We'll be able to get rid of that sarcasm quickly." he turned back around and snapped his fingers at the nerdy man. "Stewart, you know what to do."

Stewart, apparently the nerdy man, looked at his companion. "You're sure about this Justin?"

Justin gave Stewart a hard look. Stewart got the message and he started walking towards Bart with a bracelet in his hands.

"This bracelet that Stewart has will make the gravitational pull harder on your body. You'll still be able to walk, but you won't be able to run like you used to."

Bart clenched his fists. He wasn't going to let his powers be controlled. He started running but noticed something strange. They could still see him as he was running. Nothing was going by in a blur. He stopped and looked around him. He ran for two seconds and had only ran two yards. That was impossible!

Justin smirked again. Bart was really getting annoyed by that smirk. "You don't think that I would actually be stupid enough not to put something in you to keep you moving at a normal speed? After my men brought you, they gassed you some experimental chemicals in you. It's a classified governmental project actually. They're planning to use it in combat. We offered to do a trial run. Unfortunately, it only has a temporary affect and we needed something permanent, hence the bracelet."

Bart slowly began backing away from Stewart who was still walking towards him. Bart stopped. Why was he backing away from him? This was a geek? He could take him on. As Stewart came close enough for Bart to punch him, he did exactly that. Bart hit him right in the nose.

Stewart jumped back as he held his nose. It was starting to bleed. The bracelet fell to the ground. Bart ran to get it, but Justin was quicker than him. Turned out when Bart was running like everyone else, he was actually pretty slow.

Justin ran towards Bart and Bart began attacking him. Justin dodged every punch, kick, and anything else Bart threw at him. "Do you really think that's going to stop me?" Justin asked Bart. "I've had training with the army, marines, navy, and the air force. You can only run fast."

Bart stopped for a split second and Justin took that chance. He charged towards Bart and before Bart knew it, he had the bracelet on his right wrist.

Justin looked at Bart with a victorious look. "I'll be back again for another little chat." he started walking away and looked at Stewart who was leaning against a wall holding his nose up in the air. Justin rolled his eyes. "Get out of here." he said disgustedly.

Stewart complied happily as he walked out before Justin. Bart watched them leave and he began tugging at the bracelet. If he was going to be stuck here, then he was going to find out everything he could about what they did to Clark. Stewart seemed like their weakest link. He might be able to start there.

* * *

Stewart let Justin go in front of him and he followed quickly behind him. He put his nose down and kept the blood from flowing out with a few tissues. "Um, sir, if you don't mind my asking-"

"I actually do mind, but you're going to ask anyways, aren't you?" Justin said in a cold tone as he continued walking briskly.

Stewart didn't want to ask his question anymore, but he had to. "What exactly to you want with Bart? I mean, don't you still have some kind of control of Kent?"

"I'm losing him slowly." Justin said as he started walking a bit slower. "I don't know how they're doing it, but he's becoming gentler." Justin paused for dramatic effect. He was about to speak, but he stopped. Maybe revealing his plan to anyone right now would be too soon. It could mess everything up. "You don't need to know why we have Bart. Just do as I say and maybe I won't 'fire' you."

Stewart gulped as Justin started walking away. He knew what Justin meant when he said 'fire you.' It was pretty much the equivalent of keeping him silent.

* * *

A/N: Hope you like this new chapter. I hope the wait wasn't too long. Summer has thrown my whole schedule off. Thank you everyone for the great reviews and continue leaving them! :D


	8. Hard Problems Never Have Easy Solutions

Hard Problems Never Have Easy Solutions

Almost a whole day passed since Chloe heard the news from Oliver. It was such a long and hard day, but somehow they managed. Chloe had stayed in her room for most of the day. She called Mr. Zima and explained as best as she could that she wasn't going to be able to make it in for a few days. Apparently, he understood because he gave her a whole week off.

Lois had been helping Chloe find anything they could on where they might've taken Bart. Only once did they take a small break and that was just to sleep for a few hours. There were so many leads that were popping up all over the place. They would only turn out to be dead ends.

Oliver had called them to see how they were doing. He told them that Victor hadn't reached the location yet. He had been stalled by a few minor things that they didn't need to worry about. Victor was supposed to be arriving at the location in a few hours.

Clark, well he hadn't really done anything the whole day. He was just…existing. Saying nothing, doing nothing. Lois had feared he had become a completely mindless robot.

Lois was now in the kitchen making some food for both her and Chloe. She knew that if neither of them stopped to make food, they wouldn't eat. She looked up from the food she was making and looked at Clark. She had no idea what was going on in that head of his, much less if something _was_ going on.

Clark could feel her gaze on him and he turned to look at her. They both stared into each others eyes. Lois was the first one to look away. It was too uncomfortable looking into Clark's eyes. They were supposed to be warm and full of hope. Instead, they were cold and dead.

Clark stood up and took a seat at the kitchen bar. He began watching Lois intently. She was cutting up some lettuce and was putting it into a bowl with diced tomatoes. "What are you making?"

Lois didn't look up at him as she pulled out some cucumbers from the fridge. "Salad. It's one of the few things I can make without messing something up." she said as she washed the cucumbers and started cutting them. "Just so long as Chloe has some kind of salad dressing, we'll be good."

Clark grunted. He only had one reason to come over here and that was to ask Lois something. Strangely enough though, he wanted to have a conversation with her before he asked. "Why can't you cook?"

Lois looked at Clark. At least he was interested in something. "I just never learned. Being raised only by my dad, I didn't learn all the things that a young lady should know. He taught me how to be strong and tough though which is always good."

Clark nodded and decided he could finally ask her. "What's wrong with Chloe?"

Lois gave him a surprised look. It was almost as if he was showing a genuine concern for her. That definitely was an improvement.

She looked in her eyes and could see worry in them. It may have been clouded by all the other bad things in his eyes, but it was still there. "Chloe just found out some bad news about Bart." Lois didn't feel like explaining it to Clark. She didn't even know if it would faze him.

"What happened to Bart?"

Lois groaned inwardly. She didn't think that he was going to want to know, but he still asked her. "We think that the same people that took…us might've taken him."

Clark frowned. "Then he must be an enemy of the state."

"What? Bart is no 'enemy of the state.' He's a smart-mouthing kid that's still trying to get the hang of the hero business."

"That may be what he's telling you, but it's not true."

"Clark! Bart has been your friend before and after your…transformation." Lois didn't know how to describe his present state. She gave him a frustrated look. "How can you just write him off as a bad person?!"

"Because they only take people who are enemies." "Oh really?" Lois said as she put her hands on her hips. "Then give me an example." Clark narrowed his eyes. He didn't like being tested by Lois, but he still answered. "Travis Barrett." Clark remembered him, how he pleaded for his life. It was pathetic actually.

Lois furrowed her brows a moment before she remembered who Travis Barrett was. "Travis Barrett was a humanitarian! He opened up orphanages, homes for abused women, he was even helping take down some of Lex's out-of-control experiments!" Travis had been killed by a mysterious burn. It was a small hole that was shot straight through his heart. Almost like a laser beam. Lois felt dread creep upon her. "Did you kill him?" Lois already knew the answer, but she hoped that she was wrong.

Clark stood up. "I did this world a favor by getting rid of that man." he didn't wait for Lois to respond as he stalked out to the balcony.

Lois let out a long sigh. Clark had killed a good man. Who knew how many more he had killed after Travis Barrett?

Chloe came out of her room and walked into the kitchen. She grabbed a cup and began filling it with water. She seemed to notice Lois' tense form. "Lois? What is it?" Lois looked up at Chloe. "I just found out who killed Travis Barrett." Lois said resentfully.

Chloe thought back a bit before she remembered all the news reports on his death. "What are you talking about? Not even the FBI could figure that one out. It just became a cold case."

"Yeah, well, I just talked with the killer and right now he's standing outside the balcony!" Lois said through clenched teeth.

Chloe let out a small gasp as she looked at Clark. "Clark killed him?"

Lois closed her eyes and tried to calm down. "I don't know how many others he could've killed. He talked about it as if it were nothing. He actually thinks that he did humanity a favor." Lois couldn't imagine Clark actually killing someone. Yes, he did try killing her on several occasions, but actually going through with it? It wasn't supposed to surprise her, but hearing Clark admit it from his own lips was chilling.

Chloe paled. She didn't like this one bit. She didn't want him here anymore. He wasn't the same Clark Kent and he was never going to be the same. "Lois, I can't do this anymore. I have too much on my plate with Bart being missing. Now to find out that Clark killed this man and probably others like him." she took a seat and looked at Lois. "He can't stay here anymore Lois. I'm sorry."

Lois looked at Chloe with wide eyes. She didn't expect her to say something like that. But Lois couldn't hold it against her. "What are we going to do then?" Lois asked as she took a seat next to Chloe.

Chloe shrugged her shoulders. She honestly couldn't think of anything.

"We can't send him back." Lois stated. There was no way she was going to drop him off with the same people that twisted his thinking.

"Leaving him with Martha would be too risky." Chloe said. Too many people would still try and get tours of the farm. It had been a _major_ risk when they took him a few days ago.

"Oliver has to deal with too many things."

"There's no one else that would probably be willing

They both sat there silently, thinking of some place to take him.

Lois sat up straight as she remembered something. "Didn't you say that Clark had some kind of fortress up north."

"Yeah, it was completely isolated…" Chloe caught onto Lois' thinking. "He could stay there!"

"Yeah, and I could stay there a few nights to make sure he'll be fine."

"And Jor-el could possibly do something to help him at least remember some things."

"So Fortress of Solitude then." Lois said triumphantly.

"Right. Let me call Oliver first and we'll get it set up." Chloe said as she stood up and walked towards the phone. She couldn't help the small feeling of hope. At least something was starting to go right.

* * *

Stewart opened his eyes and brought up his chin. He was starting to doze off. It couldn't be helped. He was sleepy. Justin wouldn't let him take a break. He was supposed to be monitoring the computers.

The door opened and Sam came in. "Hello Mr. Lane." Stewart said as he sat up straight.

Sam just grunted as he walked in. He was in a foul mood. Mainly because he wasn't able to talk with Justin about anything. Justin had locked himself up in his office and wouldn't let anyone come in. "What are you doing?" Sam asked as he took a seat and started looking at the monitors.

"I'm making sure Clark doesn't do anything we don't want him to be doing." Stewart said.

Sam nodded his head. He made himself comfortable before asking the question that was on his mind. "Do you know what Justin's really up to?"

Stewart looked at Sam. "Uh, well…" Stewart began chuckling nervously. "I can't really tell you Mr. Lane…Justin, he…uh, wants things qui-quiet." he cleared his throat and tried to think of something to change the subject.

"Stewart, I need to know. He tried having Clark kill my daughter. I am not going to sit around and do nothing. What is Justin up to?" Sam asked with a hard voice.

Stewart looked at him again. He was terrified of Sam. He could easily beat him. Stewart prayed he didn't. "I can't tell you!" he said earnestly.

Sam stood up and grabbed Stewart by the collar of his shirt. "You do not want to mess with me right now. Tell me what you know and you won't get hurt."

Stewart could hear his own heartbeat pounding rapidly in his ears. "I…I…" he began sputtering out in fear.

Sam let go of him, but waited for him to say something. Stewart looked around then back to Sam. "Justin isn't working for the government." he barely spoke above a whisper.

Sam gave him a confused look. He remembered getting the letter that he was going to be stationed at some new place, and this was the place. How could Justin not be working for the government? The letter was official. "What are you talking about?" Sam asked in the same volume.

"I'm saying that he's…well, he's a fraud."

Sam waited for Stewart to continue, but Stewart didn't speak another word. "Stewart, what else is there?" Sam asked in an impatient voice.

"I can't tell you Mr. Lane! Justin will kill me!"

"He won't find out about any of this." Sam said.

"But he has ears and eyes everywhere on the grounds! He'll find out somehow!"

"Well we just won't talk about it on the grounds. You're coming with me." Sam said as he lifted Stewart off the chair and made him stand. "We're leaving this place."

"What?! Are you insane?! Do you want to get both of us killed?!"

"Stewart, whatever Justin had threatened you with, I'll make sure it's worse if you do not come with me." Sam started walking to the door.

Stewart considered his options carefully, but quickly. He made the decision that seemed best to him. He quickly ran after Sam. "Where are we going?"

"Metropolis."

"Are we going to come back."

Sam stopped at the door and looked around the room. "No, if it can be helped."

* * *

Chloe hung up the phone after she had finished talking with Oliver. It took only a little bit of convincing for Oliver to finally agree with their plan. She turned back to Lois who was finishing up a bowl of salad. "Oliver said that it was fine with him and that it would actually be better if you leave right now. Since it's night, no one will really see either of your faces."

Lois put the bowl in the sink. "That's perfect. All I have to do it get some clothes together for me and Clark and then we can go." Lois walked out of the kitchen and into her room to do exactly what she had said.

Chloe served herself a bowl and sat down at the table. Right now, her hopes had actually been risen with the fact that Lois and Clark were going to the fortress. Maybe Clark would be restored and he would come back and get Bart and everything could go back to the way it was.

It was a fools hope, but it was helping her get through the days. The balcony door opened and Clark came back in. "Where's Lois?" was the first thing that came out of his mouth.

"She went to get some clothes together." Chloe said between bites. "We're going to be leaving somewhere in a few minutes. You and Lois are going to be staying in a new place."

"Where's it going to be?"

"It's somewhere up north. I think that you're really going to like it." Chloe said with a small smile.

Lois came out of the room holding two bags. "All right, Chlo. We're ready."

She nodded as she stood up. She handed both Clark and Lois their sunglasses and they stepped outside the apartment and made their way to the garage. Chloe started the car and began praying silently that all would come out right again.

* * *

Victor stopped in the middle of a large clearing. The light from his flashlight swept over the entire clearing. He went exactly to the place that Oliver told him to, but there was nothing. Victor checked his GPS and it said he was in the right place. How could he be in the right place when there was nothing here? Victor began walking around the area. It was strange how there could be such a large clearing of nothing in a dense forest. Something caught Victor's eyes. There was a manila envelope on the ground. Victor walked towards it and picked it up.

It was heavier than it seemed. Victor thought for a moment that it might be a bomb. Carefully, he opened it and pulled out what was being held. It was a DVD player. Victor furrowed his brows and he checked it over for any signs of explosives. Nothing.

He opened it cautiously and pushed play. There was a man sitting behind a desk. He had peppered hair and his eyes were beady and gray. Victor could instantly tell that this man was a crook. "If you're watching this, then I can assume that a 'special' search party has been sent out for Bart Allen." the man started. "Well, I can assure you that he is perfectly fine at this moment, but I can't assure his wellness for long. You people have something, or more like _someone_, that belongs to me. I need him back. You know exactly who I'm talking about. Clark Kent.

"I know that Oliver Queen, Chloe Sullivan, and Lois Lane are all involved and maybe even more know about him. If you turn Clark over, then Bart will be released unharmed. If I do not have an answer within 48 hours, then Bart Allen will die. There's a phone in the envelope. I can be reached by using the phone. Oh and don't even think about trying to track me down again. You won't find me."

The man smiled and even his smile was crooked. "Time is ticking." The DVD player shut off.

Victor closed it and cursed. Things were not going good. He stuck his hand inside the envelope and sure enough, there was a phone in it. He took it and ran back to his car. Oliver was going to need to know about this.

* * *

Chloe, Lois, and Clark all walked into the dark caves that were only lit by the flashlight Chloe held. "You're sure this is the way?" Lois asked as she followed Chloe.

"Yeah. It may have been a while since I've been down here, but I still remember my way around." Chloe said as she turned a corner. She came to wall where there was an octagonal slot. Chloe pulled out a metallic disk that fit perfectly. After the farm had been raided, Martha entrusted Chloe with the key.

The disk went in easily and the wall began to move aside. It revealed another room that had a large table in the center. "Okay, all you have to do is put this key in the cent of that table." Chloe said as she handed Lois the key.

Lois nodded her head as she wrapped her coat around herself tightly. Chloe said that is was going to be cold. Lois hoped that Chloe wasn't joking around, because she would have to get back at Chloe if she wore the jacket for a pointless reason. "Thank you so much Chlo."

Chloe nodded her head. "Don't worry about it." she said.

Lois walked towards Chloe and gave her a hug. "I'll be back in a few days."

"I know."

"We'll find Bart too, so don't worry about it."

"I'll try not to." "And you know that you can always call Oliver whenever you need someone."

"I know Lois." Chloe said starting to get a bit irritated with her.

Lois grinned slightly as she pulled away from Chloe. It was only going to be a few days so she shouldn't worry. "I'll see you later." Lois said.

"Yeah, see you." Chloe started walking out of the room, but stopped and looked back at Clark. "Good-bye Clark." Chloe said a bit sadly.

"Bye Chloe."

Chloe didn't want to leave just yet. She walked back into the room and gave Clark a hug. Again, Clark was surprised at the show of affection, but somehow his arms ended up wrapped around Chloe. It was only for a few moments before Clark pulled away.

Chloe looked up at him. "Please get better." she said. She turned away and walked out of the room.

Clark turned to look at Lois. "Are you ready?" she asked him.

Clark nodded his head and stood next to Lois. She slid the key into the slot and a blue light surrounded them and it felt as if they were traveling through a tunnel. Lois was a bit frightened and grabbed Clark's hand. Shock went through her as she felt Clark squeeze her hand gently.

They came out of the tunnel and had been transported to a snow land. Lois shivered and she was thankful that Chloe was right about it being cold. She zipped up her jacket and looked around. She didn't see the Fortress anywhere. "Do you see anything Clark?"

Clark was looking around too, but stopped when he saw something. "I see something over there." he said as he pointed to it.

Lois looked to where he was pointing and groaned out loud. "Are you serious?" she complained. The fortress had to be at least six miles away. Lois looked up to Clark. "Do you think that you could super speed us there?" she asked.

Clark looked down at her. "Why? We can walk."

"Clark, don't you dare start with me. I am not about to walk that long distance in the snow. I'm already starting to get cold. Now pick me up and let's start super speeding."

Clark frowned, but did as she said. He picked Lois up gently and within seconds, they were in front of the ice palace. He set Lois back down on the ground and she regained her balance.

Lois looked up at the palace of ice in awe. This was amazing.

"Is this place mine?" Clark asked, seemingly in the same state of awe as Lois.

"Yeah…" Lois said breathlessly. "Amazing isn't it."

Clark admired it's beauty for only a moment more before he started making his way inside. Lois looked after him. She rolled her eyes at how insensitive he was. She caught up with him and they both walked in at the same time.

The sight that they were met with was just as incredible. Pillars of ice were holding the structure up. Platforms were everywhere and there was a crystal console standing in the center of the fortress. It was too incredible for words.

"What has happened to my son Kal-el?" questioned a loud voice within the walls.

Lois and Clark both looked around for the source of the voice, but they didn't find it. Instead they found something that they didn't think that they would encounter out here.

"I can't believe this. Clark Kent and Lois Lane. Here. Unbelievable!" said a man that was standing on a platform staring at them both. He was in a heavy snow jacket and looked familiar to Lois.

"Who are you?" Lois asked defensively as she stood in front of Clark.

The man scoffed. He snapped his fingers and instantly, they were surrounded by more men in black snow jackets and they were all holding riffles. "You don't remember me, Ms. Lane?"

Lois remembered that voice. A chill went up her spine. It was the same man from the DDS that tried to arrest her at the Planet. The same man who wanted to get to Clark.

* * *

A/N: I haven't been able to do an update mainly because of renovations that we've been doing on our house. It's been really chaotic, but we finally finished today! I hope this chapter is good. I wrote it like two times. The first time I thought I had it, but then when I re-read it, everything changed completely! Anyways, you can expect some action in upcoming chapters. Probably not this next one, but maybe the later ones in the near future...


	9. A Long Awaited Discovery

A Long Awaited Discovery

Oliver looked up from the work at his desk when he heard his phone ringing. It was his _special_ phone. He pulled it out of his drawer and answered it. "Oliver."

"Oliver man, I've got something pretty serious here." Victor said.

"Victor, where are you? Did you find Bart?" Oliver said as he locked the door to his office.

"No, there was nothing out there except for a DVD some guy left. It's for us."

"It's from the man that has Bart." Oliver stated.

"Yup."

"Is he asking for a ransom?"

"Something like that. Get Chloe, Lois and Clark to the Clock Tower and I'll show you what I got."

"Lois and Clark are gone. They went up north to his fortress." Oliver hated the idea of Lois being up there alone with Clark, but Chloe assured him that nothing bad would happen. He could tell Chloe longed for the old Clark.

Victor muttered a curse. "This dude is asking for some pretty serious demands. We _need_ Lois and Clark here if we want to get Bart back."

Oliver sighed. He knew letting those two go up north was a bad idea. "I'll go ahead and get Chloe to the Clock Tower."

"See you later then."

Both of them hung up. Oliver looked at the bottle of wine right across from him. A small swig would be nice, but he didn't have any time. He grabbed his coat and headed out the door to get Chloe.

* * *

Lois stood closer to Clark and began whispering to him. "Clark, you can get us out of here. Just beat these guys up and we'll go back to Metropolis."

Clark made no sign of doing what Lois asked. She didn't even know if he heard her. His face was set like stone as he watched the men surrounding them. "Who are you?" Clark asked in a loud booming voice.

The man smirked as he walked down a few of the steps. "Agent Ted Smith."

Clark narrowed his eyes as Ted continued walking closer to them. He decided that he didn't trust this man. He sped towards him in a blur and grabbed his throat, holding him up as if he weighed nothing.

Ted tried to get out of his grip. "Guess you've changed some. Don't really remember you trying to kill somebody." he gasped out.

Clark only squeezed his throat tighter. "Maybe you didn't even know me at all."

Ted furrowed his brows, but he looked to the man that was closest to him. He nodded his head. The man knew what Ted wanted. He pulled out a small box from his vest and opened it. Inside was a small piece of the glowing kryptonite.

Clark felt the effects of it and immediately let go of Ted. He began stumbling away from the meteorite and fell on the cold ground.

"Put it away!" Lois yelled at them as she noticed the pale complexion on Clark's face. She ran towards them, ready to attack, but a man came and held her back.

"There won't be any chance of that. If it gets put away, there won't be anything to stop Mr. Kent from killing us all. It stays out." Ted's voice was chilling.

"Please, you know that Clark wouldn't hurt anyone." Lois decided to put up a charade.

"Ms. Lane, didn't you see how he just handled me?" Ted questioned as he rubbed his neck. He gave Clark a wary look. "Something inside of him has changed. You and I both know how capable he is of killing." he said with a knowing glance at Lois.

"What do you want from us?" Lois asked with boldness in her voice. She wanted to get away from the subject of Clark killing.

"We need to make sure the Kryptonian here isn't a threat to humanity." Ted looked to the soldier holding the small shard of kryptonite. "Take them to the holding room."

He nodded as he walked towards him. The man with the kryptonite grabbed Clark and began dragging him while the man holding Lois pulled out a gun and pressed it against her back. She began moving forward in the direction he wanted.

Lois knew that with a few moves, she could have this man knocked out, even with the gun behind her. But she had to consider that they had Clark. If she did something, there was no guarantee that Clark would get out safe. He didn't get out safe last time. The only thing she could do was cooperate with them. Lois would watch them and wait to make her next move.

* * *

Chloe was slowly pacing the Clock Tower while Oliver was sitting on the couch drinking a small glass of wine. Having a little bit would calm his frazzled nerves.

They had been waiting for a while and Victor still hadn't shown. Chloe was starting to get preoccupied, but the familiar clang of the elevator pushed those feelings aside. The elevator stopped and the doors were opened. Victor stepped inside the Clock Tower carrying a manila envelope. His face was grim.

Oliver stood up and put his drink down. "What've you got for us?"

Victor pulled out a DVD player and showed it to them both. "I don't think either of you are going to like this very much." he set it down on a counter and pushed play.

The same message that he had seen earlier played again. Bart could be taken back if they handed Clark over.

Chloe could feel her knees slowly giving out as the message played. She sat down on a chair and her hand covered her mouth. "He can't be serious." she mumbled as the message was done.

Oliver grimaced. "I think he's serious Chloe." He looked at Victor then back to Chloe. "If we don't get Clark back and hand him over to these people…Bart dies."

Chloe's sad and hopeless emotions soon changed to anger and complete rage. She wasn't going to sit back and watch as another man she loved die. Bart's fate wouldn't be the same as Jimmy's.

She stood up with a fire burning in her eyes. "We are going to get Bart back."

"How are we going to do that Chloe? Victor said there was nothing out there and Clark isn't here anymore." Oliver tried reasoning.

"Then we just have to find some other way!" Chloe turned to Victor. "What did you see there? Was there anything suspicious?"

Victor shrugged his shoulders. "There was nothing. It was just a large clearing in the middle of a forest." Victor said with a frown. Whoever these people were, they really knew how to cover their tracks.

Chloe was already logging onto Oliver's computer and beginning to pull up files. "Victor, see if you can find out who bought the phone or DVD player. Use the serial number or something. Ollie, get Martha on the phone and you two figure out which branch of the government has enough pull to do something like this and not be sent to jail." Chloe ordered.

Oliver and Victor exchanged looks. They had never seen Chloe like this before. Either way, they did what she told them to do.

* * *

Lois stood up for the second time and walked to the door. The room they had been placed in was so different than what she was used to. Everything was composed of ice crystals. While it was beautiful, it was also foreboding. She bent down at the door and tried pushing that small shard of kryptonite past the door. There was no small slit that it would go through.

Lois walked back to Clark and looked at him. His face was so pale and his breathing had been labored. They were stuck,_ again_. Fate really had it out for her.

The door opened and Lois stood protectively before Clark. It was Ted. "What do you want?"

Ted closed the door behind him. "I just want to talk."

"I won't say anything until you get that kryptonite out of here."

Ted frowned. "I really don't want to do that Lois. I know that Clark will break both of you out if I do."

Lois held her clenched fists at her side. She resisted the urge to punch the snot out of this man. "Fine, then let me ask my own questions first."

Ted waited for her to continue.

"How the heck did you find this place?" she asked as she took a few steps closer to him.

Ted smiled. "One day, we got this whole packet of information. Everything that we ever wanted to know on Clark Kent and more. We found out about his little fortress from the notes. I took a team up here and we almost died. His birth father, Jor-el, tried changing the weather in here on us. Fortunately, the notes we found also had a guide on how to control the weather in here.

"We can control this whole thing in here. The only thing that we can't seem to control though it Jor-el's voice. It keeps coming up at the most random times. The only thing he'll tell us, though, is that our 'judgment' is coming." Ted let out a scoff. "This old spirit doesn't know what he's talking about though."

"So I'm assuming that you came here for answers on Clark." Lois stated.

Ted nodded. "We found out a lot of things. Did you know this place is almost like a huge library? There's information in here that we never would've found out in a million years!" Ted stood up and he was starting to get very excited. "Imagine all the things we could do with this information right at our fingertips."

"But what does that have to do with us? Just let us go." Ted scoffed. "Do you seriously think that I'm going to do that? The alien is a threat to national security. We might let you out within time, but never the alien."

"Clark is not a threat to national security!" Lois exclaimed.

"You don't think I know of all the people he's killed within _just_ this past year? Humanitarians, good people, Ms. Lane. The only reason I haven't told anyone is because I wanted my piece of him first."

Lois kept her mouth shut. What could she do? She really couldn't defend Clark because he really had killed good people. But it was only because he had been broken and beaten until he had no spirit left, right?

"I did want to ask some questions," Ted looked at his watch. "But it seems like I have an appointment that I needed to get to." He walked to the door and made sure that the kryptonite was in its place. He nodded to Lois and Clark and left them alone.

Lois silently fumed as she went over to Clark to check up on him. She still couldn't believe. Well, it was more like she _didn't_ want to believe it. This just couldn't be happening again. They had already done so much to them, to _him_, that first time. Lois closed her eyes and tired pushing down that dreadful memory, but it came up without permission.

* * *

_Lois groaned as she felt herself waking up. She was on some kind of cushion that was lumpy in all parts. Her head was pounding as she opened her eyes. She was in a room that was completely white, a harsh light shining over her. She squinted as she held up her hand and slowly sat up. She looked around, searching for the one person she didn't see. Clark._

_Lois remembered everything that had happened in the barn and she was terrified of what might've happened to Clark. He wasn't here and that only added fuel to her worry._

_She stood up and slowly spun around the room, taking it all in. There was a camera in one of the corners. A red light was on, letting her know that they were recording her every move. Lois turned away from the corner and moved to the door that was there. There was no way to open it from her side. She needed some kind of card to get it open. _

_Lois stepped back from the door and started wandering around the room. There was no way she would be able to get out of this. There was an air vent in the ceiling, but she couldn't fit. If it had been a few inches bigger, she might've been able to at least get her upper body through._

_The door opened and Lois immediately ran towards it. But Clark was standing there and so were two other men. They pushed him in and Lois was able to catch him before he fell to the ground. The door closed and Lois swore. She saw their chance at freedom be taken away._

_Clark grabbed onto Lois and tried to stand up. He couldn't. "Lois?" he asked in a weak voice._

"_Clark…what did they do to you?" Lois asked as she took in his condition. There were a few cuts and bruises on him, but nothing life-threatening, which Lois was so grateful for. But there was an odd white cuff on his wrist._

_Clark closed his eyes as he tried to remember, but nothing came up. The only thing he did remember was being woken up by those two men. They were the ones who had pulled him off some kind of examining table and brought him to the room where Lois was. "I don't know…" Clark held his head._

_Lois gently eased him against the wall. "Do you think you could get us out of here?" she asked._

_Clark looked around and a frown appeared on his face. "I can't…my powers…they're gone."_

_Lois looked at him as if he was crazy. "What?" she hissed out. She had to remember that they had a camera watching them._

"_I've been exposed to kryptonite and even right now, I can still sort of feel it." he started tugging at the tight cuff on his wrist. "I bet this thing is filled with it." he said through clenched teeth._

_Lois remembered Clark moaning something about kryptonite in the loft when they had been taken. "Kryptonite?"_

"_Radio-active pieces of Krypton. They came in the meteor shower in '89. I can't be exposed to it too long. It pretty much a deathly allergy." he explained in a low voice. He had noticed the cameras when he had been thrown in here._

_Lois frowned as he explained the kryptonite to her. She had thought he was invincible. But she couldn't worry about that right now. Instead she need to think of some way to escape. "Do you remember those guys saying anything at all. Maybe they were talking about the work that they're doing here."_

_Clark shook his head. "They didn't talk the entire time."_

_Lois stood up and began pacing. There had to be some way for them to escape._

_Clark stood up with a bit of difficulty, but he was able to do it on his own. "Lois, calm down, all right? We'll get out of here somehow."_

"_Clark, I've circled this room about ten times. There's no way that we can get out! We need some kind of pass card to open the door."_

_Clark looked at Lois. He knew that if anyone were able to get a pass card, it would be Lois. "You'll find a way."_

_Lois gave him a wry smile, grateful for his hope. She stood there as she looked around the room. "It's just that…I hate this place. I know I haven't been in here for a very long time, but I know that I won't like it at all." she said. Her voice was shaking even though she begged it not to. _

_Clark walked over to her and pulled her into a hug. His warm arms went up and down her back, quietly soothing her frazzled nerves. "Don't worry Lois. There's got to be some way for us to get out. There's always a way."_

_Lois' arms found their way around Clark's waist and she held him, receiving so much comfort from them. She didn't care what happened to them, she swore that she was going to find a way out and she was going to make a vow to herself to never let something like this ever happen to either of them._

* * *

Sam and Stewart walked out into the dark moonlight. Sam looked behind him to the building and jumped back when he saw nothing. "Where's the base?" he asked Stewart.

Stewart didn't seem to have notice the base missing at all. When he looked back, there was no surprise reaction from him. "Oh, Justin had a cloaking device put on around it. Comes in pretty handy for him." Stewart said lightly.

Sam looked down at him. How much did this kid really know? Every time Sam would leave the base, he could still see the base. Justin must've known about all the times he left. "Let's start walking then."

"Walking?" Stewart asked in a whining tone. "Can't we just get one of the vehicles Justin has?"

"And get caught? No, we're walking to the highway then I'm going to call someone for a ride."

Stewart looked at Sam as if he were crazy. "To the highway?! You want me to walk all the way over there?!"

"Stewart, do it." Sam said in a menacing tone.

Stewart gulped as he followed Sam. This man could really be scary. Stewart was beginning to wonder what he got himself into.

* * *

Justin watched from a camera as Sam and Stewart started walking towards the highway. He knew that Sam would leave him eventually. It was nice having him while he was here though. But it was good Sam was leaving and even better that Stewart was pulled along with him. He knew that Stewart would rat him out. But little did they know that it was going to benefit _him_ in the outcome of it all.

Justin switched to the camera that was in Bart's holding cell. He was sitting on the floor and looking miserable. He pulled out his phone and dialed one of his loyal workers. "Albert, I want you to give Bart a ball to play with. I don't want him dying of boredom while here."

Justin hung up the phone and knew that Albert was already on his way to accomplish the task.

* * *

Chloe was really starting to get frustrated. There was absolutely nothing that could help them. Victor was going nowhere with tracking down the purchases and Oliver was still on the phone with Martha.

Chloe stood up and put on a pot of coffee. If they were going to keep going, then coffee was going to be an essential. She walked back to the living room and sat down on the couch as she rubbed her aching head.

Oliver hung up the phone and walked to where Victor and Chloe were. "Martha said that she's already been looking into it, but there's no one that has been doing something like this."

"What about the DDS? They were the ones that wanted Clark in the first place." Chloe said as she leaned forward.

"Martha says they've been pretty inactive since Clark's disappearance. They moved their main location somewhere up north though. Martha couldn't find out where exactly."

"So we still have nothing?"

"Yeah. I can't track any of this stuff. Whoever these people are, they really know how to cover their tracks." Victor said.

Chloe sighed as she searched her mind for any kind of idea. One finally popped up. "What if we look into the people Clark assassinated?" she stood up and walked to the computer.

"But we don't know who they are." Oliver pointed out.

"True, but I'm pretty sure he killed them all the same way. Lois said that Clark killed Travis Barrett with a burn to his heart." Chloe's fingers were already flying over the keyboard. "Maybe if we pull up some of the cold case files-" Chloe was interrupted by her phone. It was an unknown number.

"Oliver, finish doing this. I think I should take this call." Chloe got up and went outside. "Hello, Chloe Sullivan." she answered in a professional voice.

"Chloe, it's Uncle Sam."

* * *

Lois tore off a piece of cloth from her sweater and began wiping it across Clark's sweaty forehead. She hated seeing him like this. His face was pale and his eyes were halfway closed. The expression on his face only told half of the pain he was in.

"Help me Lois." he moaned out softly as he shifted slightly.

Lois' heart ached. For a moment, she could see the old Clark. But it must've only been a vision.

"Lois Lane."

Lois looked around and recognized the voice as Jor-el's. "Jor-el, can't these people hear you too?" she didn't want to get into any kind of trouble.

"I can focus the voice to be heard in specific rooms." he explained in the all-knowing voice of his.

"Well is there any way that you can help us?"

A slot opened up in the wall by the door that Lois never noticed. She supposed Ted didn't know about it either. "Place the kryptonite in here. The fortress will absorb the radioactivity out of the kryptonite. It will restore Kal-el's health, but he will still have no abilities. Not until he has been exposed to Earth's yellow sun will he have his abilities."

Lois did as Jor-el said. Once the kryptonite was in the slot, it closed back up again. Like Jor-el had said, Clark's breathing was returning and he was beginning to look a healthier shade. Lois smiled softly before returning to speak with Jor-el. "So why did you let the DDS in? I thought you would figure they were enemies."

"I understood that they were enemies of Kal-el, but they were able to hack into my system, nearly controlling everything in here."

"I guess they can't control your mouth." she said with a smirk.

"Why have you come Lois Lane?"

Lois rolled her eyes. "Just call me Lois. But we came here to see if you could possibly restore Clark…or Kal-el, whatever you call him."

Jor-el was silent for a moment. Lois was afraid that maybe Ted finally did find out a way to control Jor-el's voice. "There is nothing I can do for him at this moment."

Lois' spirit lifted at his last few words. "But if we get rid of the DDS, could you restore him then?"

"There is no way for me to tell right now."

"Lois…"

Lois immediately went to Clark when she heard his voice. She saw the look on his face and was a bit surprised. He was scared. She never saw him look this scared. "Don't worry Clark. It's going to be all right."

"No…get me out of here…" Clark pleaded with her. She didn't understand that he was feeling a horrible pain in his head. The feeling of kryptonite was gone, but he still could feel pain.

Lois placed a hand on his arm as she looked up to the walls. "What's going on with him Jor-el? I thought you said he wouldn't feel the kryptonite anymore?" Lois hissed

"His pain is not from the kryptonite. There is something inside of him that is causing it."

Lois frowned as she put her hand in Clark's and squeezed it. "Clark, what's going on? You need to tell me."

Clark shut his eyes as flashes would come to his mind. Over and over he would hear sirens everywhere, a gunshot from behind him. Lois yelling his name frantically. He held on tightly to Lois' hand as if it were a lifeline. "My head…there's gunshots…you're yelling…" he let go of her as both his hands went to hold his head. He inhaled sharply from the pain.

Lois gently rubbed his back trying to get him to calm down. "It's going to be all right Clark. We'll get out of here." Lois started to think about the words Clark had just said. Where was he hearing all of these things?

Clark wanted to sink into the walls. Lois' touch made him wince slightly. He dind't want to be touched. He could still feel a pain, one in his head and a dull ache in his leg. But Lois' calm words finally reached him and he fell into a restless sleep, still feeling the presence of the pain.

* * *

Chloe pulled over on the middle of the highway. If her headlights were off, she wouldn't be able to see anything. "Uncle Sam?" she called out. He told her to pull over at a certain coordinates. She was there but didn't see anything.

There was a rustling from behind some bushes before a scrawny looking man was pushed out. He stumbled some before regaining his balance. Sam followed right after him and he was looking frustrated.

"Uncle Sam? What's going on?"

Sam walked up to her and looked at the man he had with him. "Chloe, this is Stewart. He's going to help us."

Chloe wasn't following Sam. It showed on her face.

"He knows a lot about what happened with Clark."

Chloe turned to Stewart and gave him a hard stare. "You know what they did to him?" she asked in a cold voice.

Stewart looked down bashfully. This was so embarrassing and Sam wasn't making it any better.

Chloe looked back to Sam. "I'm supposed to just give you a ride after finding out that you've been involved with what happened to Clark? Don't act so surprised though. Lois told me what you did."

"Chloe, I want to help get him back." Sam told her earnestly.

Chloe breathed out heavily. "Get in the car."

They followed what Chloe said. Sam rode in the front with Chloe while Stewart sat in the back.

The first few minutes were silent as Chloe drove on the dark highway. Sam was the one to break the silence. "Where's Lois?"

"I don't know if I should tell you." her voice was cold and hard. "It's pretty hard to trust a man who does something like this."

"Chloe, I had no idea that they were making Clark into an inhuman being. I was told that they were improving him so he could help the government."

"And you believed them?!" Chloe exclaimed.

"I thought they were working for the government."

Chloe paused. Maybe Sam had some information that would really help them out. But right now she was tired and she didn't want to talk with him anymore. The silence returned.

* * *

Lois watched Clark sleep. He was twitching and it seemed like he was having some kind of nightmare. It wasn't the first time she had seem him like this. The last few nights of their captivity was filled with nights like this.

The door opened and Ted walked in again. "Ms. Lane, or can I call you Lois. I think our relationship should move up to first name basis."

"What do you want?" Lois asked in a monotonous tone.

"I want to talk with Clark, _alone_."

"No, he's not going anywhere without me." Lois stood up.

Ted motioned for two men to come in. One of them grabbed Lois firmly and the other began dragging Clark out of the room.

"No! Leave him alone!" Lois yelled as she tried fighting against the man holding her back.

"Don't worry Lois. We'll bring him back to you in a minute. We just want to find some things out." Ted said with a smirk. Ted followed after the man who was dragging Clark.

The man holding Lois dropped her unceremoniously to the ground and closed the door behind him. Lois stood up and began pounding on the door. "Jor-el, can't you unlock the door! I need to get to Clark!" she yelled.

"I can not do anything about the door Lois. But I can assure you that they will not bring any pain to Kal-el." Jor-el answered.

"How do you know that?" Lois asked as she slumped to the ground.

"Because I know what they are going to ask him. They are going to question him about the people he has killed."

* * *

Chloe walked in the clock tower with Sam and Stewart following behind.

"Chloe! You won't believe…" Oliver's words died in his throat as he saw who was with Chloe. "Who are they?"

"This is my uncle, Sam Lane and Stewart." Chloe introduced. "They have information on Clark."

Oliver nodded his head. "Chloe, can I talk with you in private?"

Chloe followed Oliver into a back room. Victor was there too. "Hey Chloe. Where'd you go?" he asked.

"She went to bring her uncle and a friend of his here." Oliver said with crossed arms.

"Oliver, I think we can trust them. It seems like they're willing to tell us what we need to know." Chloe reasoned.

"What about this Stewart?" Oliver asked with suspicion.

"Oliver, do you seriously think that he would double-cross us?"

Oliver remembered the nerdy man that was Stewart. Chloe did have a point there. "Fine." Oliver grabbed the papers he had been holding. "Check this out then."

Chloe took the papers from Oliver. They were obituaries on people who had been murdered within the past two years. The two things they had in common were they all had burn holes in their hearts and at a point in time, they tried brining down Lex Luthor.

Chloe went still as a connection began being made. "Uncle Sam said that Stewart knew more than he did."

Oliver set his jaw and grabbed the files from Chloe. He went back into the room where Sam and Stewart were. Chloe and Victor followed him.

He pushed the files to Stewart who grabbed them and lost his balance slightly. "What are these?" Stewart asked as he looked at them.

"They're files on all the people Clark has killed." Oliver said in a hard voice. "I think I know who you've been working with, but please, confirm my suspicions."

Stewart grimaced. If he was ever caught by Justin, he'd be dead. "You're right. It was 33.1 that's done this to Clark." Stewart looked up at Oliver. He saw the angered expression on Oliver's, Victor's and Chloe's while Sam had one of confusion.

Sam turned to Chloe. "I don't get what's going on, but I know that you three must know. Either way, I want to know where Clark and Lois are." Sam ordered.

Chloe put her hand to her temples. This was a lot to take in, but Sam had a right to know where they were. "They went up north to Clark's fortress."

Stewart's face went pale. "North?"

Victor noticed the pale expression on his face. "What is it?"

"I don't think they should've gone to the north…" Stewart said. Everyone had their eyes on him and were now waiting for an explanation.

* * *

A/N: So very sorry about the super long wait. Two weeks ago, we went to Mexico and I didn't have time to update this story. But I've got this update for you right now. Hope you all like it and please let me know what you think. I'm thinking that something pretty big is about to happen in the next chapter, so just wait. Maybe I can get the next chapter up next week?


	10. Painful Memories

Painful Memories

Clark was thrown into a room with a table and a single chair. The furniture looked out of place in the crystal room. He stood up, feeling some of his strength returning, but still feeling a dull ached in both his head and leg. Ted came in and stood by the closed door. "Please, have a seat."

Clark narrowed his eyes as he sized the man up. He would have no trouble taking him out. The only problem was he didn't feel the full energy that came from his powers.

Ted took a step closer. "Mr. Kent, I have a few questions to ask you and I would like it if you had a seat."

"I am not going to listen to your orders." Clark spoke in a cold voice.

"Of course, but you don't seem to have any problems listening to what Lois Lane has to say."

Clark knew he was right. He had been going soft. Lois was starting to slowly chip at him. There was just something completely different about Lois. Whatever it was, it didn't matter. He needed to cut her off. But why was is so hard for him to do that?

Ted watched his facial expression. It didn't seem to change from the stony expression he had on. "Seems like something inside of you changed Kent." Ted said as his hand went to his chin. "You don't have that same gleam in your eyes." Ted said thoughtfully. He remembered the first time he had seen Clark at his farm. Just by one look in his eyes, and Ted could see hope in them. Now they were dead pupils.

"That gleam in my eyes was the thing holding me back from reaching my full potential." Clark said as he took a step forward. As he did, he reached a point where the sun would reflect off the crystals. He was standing in the sun's light, or at least a reflected part of it. That same energy he would always feel came rushing back to him.

* * *

Lois couldn't sit still. How could she get out of here? Maybe there was some kind of trick to the door that could get it to open, or there was a hole somewhere. She didn't see any hold and the door was solid on her side. Jor-el claimed that there was no way he could open the door.

Lois' mind finally came up with something. She began pounding on the door and made as much racket as she could.

"Stop making that noise!" a guard yelled at her as the door opened.

"I had to do something to get someone's attention!" Lois yelled back.

"What do you need?" the man asked in an annoyed tone. He took a step in the room, making sure the door didn't close.

"If you haven't noticed, there isn't a toilet in here."

"_And_?"

"And I really have to go." Lois lied.

The guard scoffed. "Please. That's the oldest trick in the book. You have to think of something better."

Lois smirked. "You're right." she ran towards him and had him knocked out on the ground within a few seconds. She grabbed his gun, black jacket, and hat. If she had some kind of disguise, maybe they would hesitate to shoot. She walked out into the hall, pulling the hat down over her eyes.

There was a lone guard standing in the hallway, not paying any attention to her. She snuck up behind him and stuck the gun in his back. "If you don't tell me where they have Clark, I will shoot." Lois threatened.

The man held up his hands. "You're not going to shoot me." he taunted.

Lois grabbed his shoulder to hold him down as she lifted the gun. She shot it at a crystal. Lois hoped Jor-el wouldn't be upset with her for doing that. She put the gun back into his spine. "Now do you believe me?"

* * *

Ted was starting to feel fear creep up on him as Clark got a chilling look in his eyes. He looked like a predator about to go in for the kill. Clark started walking closer, but a gun shot could be heard.

Clark held his head as a sharp pain went through him. He fell to the ground as images came up. He knew what they were. They were memories.

* * *

_Clark opened his eyes. He was back in the white room. He sighed, though it sounded more like a grunt of pain._

"_Smallville!" Lois exclaimed in a whisper._

"_Lois, what is it?" he could sense urgency in her voice._

_Lois smiled triumphantly as she leaned in and began to whisper. "I've got a card key."_

_Clark shared her smile as she spoke. They were going to get out of here._

"_I've been watching them and I think our best chance to go is in a few minutes. The guards start getting sleepy around this time." Lois said as she stood up._

"_What about the camera?" Clark asked. His eyes traveled up to the lens that would always be watching them._

"_I'm about to take care of that. I'll move the bed and reach up to cover the lens with a piece of the blanket."_

"_Won't they notice it right away and suspect something?"_

_Lois shrugged her shoulders. "This has been the only plan that I have been able to come up with. Unless you have something else in mind, this is going to be our only way out."_

_Clark nodded his head and sat up on the bed. He began standing up, but as soon as he gained his balance, his legs gave out and he fell to the ground._

"_Clark!" Lois rushed to him as she helped him back up on the bed._

_Clark groaned from the pain. "I don't think I'll make it Lois." he said through clenched teeth. "I'll just slow you down. Go without me."_

"_No, Clark. I am not going to leave this place without you. Today both Clark Kent and Lois Lane are going to get out of here. No one messes with us."_

_Clark grimaced. He wasn't going to make it and he knew that. "No, Lois. You get out of here and then you can go get help."_

_Lois shook her head. "We're both getting out of here." she looked at her watch. "Come on. We're leaving this place." Lois helped Clark up. He grunted in pain, but at that moment, he didn't care. She helped him sit down against the wall as she began covering the camera lens. She worked fast, her fingers had been practicing all day._

_Once it was done, Lois jumped off the bed and helped Clark stand back up. They walked to the door, ready for their freedom. Lois gave a wary look back up to the video camera before she opened the door. She prayed that this would work. That they wouldn't be stuck in this hole any longer._

_The door opened as she slid the card. She poked her head out the door and looked both ways. "Come on. No one's out here." she said as she helped Clark along. _

_They walked down the long hallway, turning towards the exit. Lois smiled. This was easy. The smile faded. It was too easy. "Clark, how are you holding up?"_

_Clark had Lois stop for a minute. He leaned up against the wall and tried catching his breath. He tugged at the white bracelet around his wrist. "Where is everyone?" his breath was ragged._

_Lois looked around. "I don't know."_

_Clark frowned. "What if it's a set up?"_

"_No, it can't be a set up. How would they know?"_

_As soon as the words left her lips, sirens sounded everywhere. Lois and Clark both looked up startled. Lois quickly grabbed Clark and they ran as fast as Clark could down the hallway. _

_They could hear men behind them catching up. "Stop!" one of them exclaimed._

_Lois looked behind and could see them with their guns. They were aiming at them. "Clark, get down!!" she yelled as they both tumbled into a different hallway._

_Clark grunted in pain as he twisted his ankle. He saw Lois stand up quickly and tried doing the same thing. His ankle protested in pain. Lois turned around and helped him up. "You are not going to stay here." she heaved out as she lifted him off the ground._

_Clark panted. "I'm slowing you down. Get out of here. You can come back for me later."_

_Lois sharply turned her head towards him. "I am not leaving you Smallville. We're _both_ getting out of here."_

_There was a gun that sounded and Lois let out a harsh curse. She looked down at her leg, where the piercing pain was coming from. There was blood beginning to seep out._

_Clark inhaled sharply. He didn't like seeing Lois in pain. She was going to need medical attention and she wasn't going to get it here. "Lois go, now!"_

_Lois breathed heavily. "Clark-"_

"_Go!" he said as he leaned against the wall. "I'll catch up with you in a minute." Clark prayed that she would leave. She didn't deserve to be here._

_Lois reached out and touched his cheek. A tear fell from her eye. She felt Clark grab her hand. "Go Lois, don't look back." he said in a soft voice._

_She pulled her hand out of his grip as she limped towards the exit. Lois turned around and gave him one last look before she went down the hallway._

"_There she is!" Clark heard someone yell._

_Clark wasn't going to let them get to Lois. He walked out in the open and stood in their way, blocking their aim._

_Once he was out in the open, the men placed their aim on him. He kept his jaw clenched, preparing himself for the pain. The men seemed to be hesitating. They didn't know if they were allowed to shoot him._

_Clark could hear the door open and close. He turned around for a minute and didn't see Lois. She had left. He closed his eyes, realizing what he just lost. He refused to let his heart fell that loss for the moment. If he didn't, then he'd loose all resolve._

_A gun fired and he felt a burning pain going through him, originating from his leg. He collapsed to the tiled floor, his head pounding on it. Darkness was the last thing he knew._

* * *

Justin reclined in his chair as he watched the computers that monitored Clark. He looked at his watch. Sam and Stewart had probably already told Chloe everything by now.

All he had to do was wait for them to show up. Sure, he could get to both Clark and Lois in a much easier way, but he wanted to play with their heads.

The computers began beeping. Justin sat up straight and looked at what was going on. Clark was remembering something and the device in his head had been triggered. Since Stewart had increased the intensity of the device, the next time Clark would remember something, it would literally kill him. Justin frowned. He would've preferred to have Clark back working for him. But that was life, full of disappointments. At least he could get Lois back. It wouldn't be the same as Clark of course, but he could train her to be just as good.

The computers noise began calming down until it completely stopped. Justin tapped at the keyboard until he came to the screen with the information he needed. Whether or not Clark had been killed.

'Device Malfunction' blinked in red on the screen.

Justin stood up as his hands came down on the table. What happened?! Why was it malfunctioning?! He tapped away at the keyboard again to try and see what happened. There was nothing that he could find that might've explained this.

He called up the only person he trusted at the base. "Albert, the device is malfunctioning. Do you know why it's doing this?" Justin tried keeping his voice calm.

"There should be no reason for that to happen." Albert replied.

Justin clenched his jaw to keep him from lashing out. There had to be an explanation!

"Wait…" Albert mumbled as he began remembering something.

"What is it?"

"Stewart might've messed up while implanting the device."

"How could he have messed up?!" Justin yelled as he began walking around in the room.

"When I was watching him implant the device, I saw him jump. He had seen a rat and it scared him."

Justin tried to remain calm. When Stewart saw the rat, he must've moved the device accidentally by a few centimeters, maybe even an inch. If the device hadn't been installed in the exact position, then of course it would malfunction. He checked the time on the wall clock. "Get ready. They should be coming soon now." Justin ordered Albert as he hung up the phone.

Stewart may have been the wimpiest man Justin knew, but he had just made everything go wrong.

* * *

The pain went away as soon as the memory left. Clark opened his eyes and breathed heavily. He felt everything the Clark in the memory felt. Pain, loss, hopelessness. Whoever that Clark Kent was, he was dead and gone.

Those men that had shot him, he recognized as Justin's men. He didn't know exactly what happened during those years of his life that were blank, but he had a feeling that Justin held him without his will. He didn't care if he was working with Justin at the moment, Justin was going to pay.

"Where did you go, Kent? Imagining your home planet?" Ted taunted.

Clark looked up at him and stood up to his full height. He stalked towards Ted and towered over him. Ted looked like a small, scared, man in Clark's shadow.

Ted began fumbling with something in his pocket, but Clark reached out and grabbed him before he could pull it out. It was probably kryptonite. Clark held him up in the air as he began choking him.

Ted gasped for air as the remaining oxygen fled his lungs. "Put…me…down." he pleaded with Clark.

Clark nearly narrowed his eyes. "What were you planning to do to me, Ted? Try and control me?" No, he was tired of being controlled by other people. Justin, Lois, all of them. He was through.

In that moment, Ted felt true fear. He knew this was the end for him.

Clark squeezed Ted's neck one last time before he heard the sickening crunch of bones.

The door flew open and Lois stood there looking breathless. She looked from Clark to Ted who hung limply in Clark's grasp.

Clark looked at Lois as horror covered her face. He let go of Ted as he fell to the ground with a loud thud. He was dead.

"Clark…what did you do?"

"I killed him. He was blocking my way." Clark said flippantly as he walked past her and out the door.

Lois slowly walked to Ted's body and stopped halfway. He really was dead. Clark had _knowingly_ killed him. Lois backed away as she began to feel sick.

There was screaming out in the other areas of the Fortress. They sounded cruel and horrible as if they were animals pleading for their lives. Lois quickly walked out of the room and went into the main area of the Fortress.

Clark stood in the center staring at the console. Around him were piles of ashes. Lois knew that those ashes had been people at one point. She felt as if she could vomit.

Clark turned around when he heard her. He looked at her with the steel gaze she had first seen back in that alley. "I know what you're trying to do, Lois."

Lois stayed a safe distance away. She really was frightened. He had just killed everybody in the Fortress. "What do you think I'm trying to do?"

"Change me." he stated plainly. "You can not change who I've become Lois. I will never go back to being that weak and pathetic man I was before."

"_Weak_? Clark Kent was the strongest man I ever knew! He loved his friends and family and would do anything to protect them." Lois said as she took a few cautious steps forward.

Clark let out a mirthless laugh. "Clark Kent died that day you left him. You should've never left him Lois. Who knows what you could've prevented if you _hadn't_ left."

Lois held in her tears. She wasn't going to let him get to her. "So what are you planning to do then? Are you still going to kill me? Or are you going to go back and work with Justin?"

Clark narrowed his eyes. "Justin is about to find out what happens when he messes with me. Who knows what may end up happening to you though." he stopped. For a split second, Lois saw hurt cross his face, but it was quickly replaced with rage. "You left me. Now it's your turn to feel abandoned." Clark sped out of the Fortress, leaving Lois completely alone.

Lois stood there, speechless. He had really abandoned her in the frozen palace. Lois clenched her jaw, a new resolve burning within her. She wasn't going to let him do this. "Jor-el! Send me back! I have to stop him!" Lois knew that he was about to kill several people. She couldn't let him do that.

"You have to remove several crystals from the main console for me to have any power." came Jor-el's answer.

Lois walked through the piles of ashes, trying not to let it get to her. She looked down at the console. "Which crystal?"

Three of the crystals lighted and Lois pulled out each of them carefully. As soon as the last one was out, the Fortress went dark for a moment before there was a humming noise coming from everywhere in the Fortress. Lois began walking to the center in wonder. Without warning, a bright light appeared. Lois instinctively closed her eyes and covered her head. Once the humming stopped, she opened her eyes cautiously. She was back in the caves.

* * *

Stewart watched as everyone was bustling back and forth getting things together for the raid. He tired helping them, but they all told him to stay out of the way.

The phone started ringing, but nobody seemed to notice. "Uh, guys, the phone's ringing." he said, hoping to catch someone's attention.

Oliver into the room after hearing Stewart. He picked up the phone. "Oliver Queen." he answered.

"Oliver, I need you to pick me up."

"Lois? What are you doing? I thought you and Clark were up at the Fortress?" Oliver asked as he stopped everything that he was doing to focus on Lois.

"We were, but then something happened."

Oliver didn't have a good feeling about it. "Is everything all right?"

"I'll explain later, but Clark's gone to kill Justin and everyone that was involved in making him the way he is now."

"Where are you?" Oliver asked.

"I'm a few miles outside the caves."

"I'll be there as soon as I can." Oliver said as he hung up the phone.

"Who was that?" Stewart asked.

Oliver gave him a look that asked why he wanted to know.

Stewart cowered back, suddenly fearful.

Oliver walked into the room where everyone else was. "I'm going out. Go ahead and go to Justin's base. I'll met up with you guys there." Oliver didn't wait for anyone to question him even though he could see all the questions that had started forming in their minds, especially Chloe. He walked to the elevator and went to the garage. He popped open the trunk to his car. Inside was a small briefcase. He opened it and looked at the gun it held.

Oliver reached in the briefcase and pulled aside a blanket. It revealed a whole clip of kryptonite bullets. He grabbed the gun and loaded it with them. He put the safety on and placed the gun in his pocket.

As he started the car, he hoped that he wasn't going to have to use the gun. Never in his life did he think he would be shooting Clark Kent.

* * *

A/N: Really sorry it's taken me forever to update this story. I actually had it ready a few weeks ago, I just needed to look over it some more, but then I got sick with the flu. Thankfully, it was just the regular flu. I'm still not 100%, but I'm getting there. I think there is only going to be a few more chapters in this story. I'm still trying to choose between two endings, though. I might end up doing one and then have an alternate one. Anyways, I hope this chapter was enjoyable and please leave your reviews for me. Thanks!


	11. Soon To Be Remembered

Soon To Be Remembered

"Does everyone understand what they're supposed to be doing?" Chloe asked.

Victor and Sam nodded. "We'll call you as soon as we get there." Victor said as he put on a head-set. "Are you sure you're fine here?"

"Yeah. Somebody's got to lead you through the place and with all this information Uncle Sam's given me, it'll be done easily." Chloe looked to Sam. "Are you taking Stewart?"

Sam shook his head. "That runt will only hold us back. It'd be better if he stayed here."

Chloe could see the logic in that. "Please be careful, and get Bart back for me."

Victor smiled. "Don't worry Chloe. He'll be back in your arms before you know it." Victor walked out the door and Sam followed behind him.

Chloe calmed her beating heart as she sat by the computer desk. She pulled up a blueprint Sam had provided. All she could do right now was wait. She wasn't even going to bother trying to strike up a conversation with Stewart.

* * *

Oliver pulled over to the side of the road and saw Lois standing beside a payphone with her arms crossed. He stepped out of the car in his Green Arrow uniform, first making sure there was no one else around. He had stopped a few minutes before getting there and changed into it. "Lois, are you all right?" Oliver asked as he jogged up to her. The last time she called him from a payphone, her leg was bleeding.

Lois bit her lip and looked around. "We have to go right now, Oliver. We have to stop Clark."

"We will, once you tell me what happened."

Lois let out a groan of frustration as she stormed to his car. "How about I explain it to you once you start driving to the base?" she opened the door and got in.

Oliver knew he wasn't going to get anything out of Lois right now. He did what she said and drove off.

Lois leaned over and looked at the speedometer. "You could go faster."

"Lois! I'm going twenty over speed limit!"

"We're in Smallville! There won't be any cops around, now speed it up before Clark does something horrible."

Oliver shook his head as he pushed the car even faster. He looked over at Lois and could see her looking out the window with nervous glances. She tapped her finger on the arm rest in a steady beat. "What happened Lois?" Oliver asked as he looked back to the road.

Lois took a deep breath as she looked straight ahead. "Reality hit me."

Oliver bit his lip. He dropped the subject as he pulled up the map Chloe had installed into his GPS.

* * *

The tree branches swayed as there was a gust of wind among them. Clark had arrived in the middle of the opening in the forest. He smirked as he looked around at the clearing. To the naked eye, you could see nothing, but Clark knew that the base was there. He walked to what was considered a random tree and laid his hand on it.

As soon as he did, the cloaking came off the base and was now visible, even in the dark moonlight. Clark sauntered to the front entrance. He was going to enjoy this.

Victor and Sam stepped out of the car and walked deep into the forest until they reached the clearing. Sam frowned. He saw the base right in front of him. When he and Stewart left, he couldn't see anything.

Sam motioned to Victor and they went in through the front entrance. Victor stayed against a wall in the dark hallway. "Watchtower, are you there?" Victor spoke into his head piece.

"Here Cyborg. Ask Sam if he knows where to turn off the cameras. I'm pretty sure there's an easier way then having to hack in."

"Do you know how to turn off the cameras?"

Sam nodded his head. "Follow me and stay close to the wall."

Victor and Sam began walking straight. Sam suddenly stopped. There weren't any guards. Justin always had at least two people walking down these halls. "Something isn't right…" he mumbled as he stood in the middle and began looking around.

Victor frowned. "Do you see anything suspicious, Watchtower?" Victor whispered.

"No, I don't see anything."

"Tell her to bring up the camera feed."

"Watchtower brin-"

"I heard him. I brought them up."

There was silence on the other line. "What do you see?" Victor asked.

"Nothing. It's just a static jumbled mess."

Sam had heard Chloe and he was already running to the video control panel. Victor ran after him, quickly catching up. They stopped in front of a box with what should've been several different controls. Instead it was a melted lump of metal.

Sam looked to Victor with what seemed to be fear. "He's here."

* * *

Justin looked at the time on the wall clock in his office. It was time to get things going. He put on a suit jacket over his white shirt and straightened it. He wanted to look his best for his guests. Justin opened the door and saw Albert standing outside his door, guarding it.

"You ready to get him?" Albert asked as he put away the gun in his hand.

Justin nodded and the two began walking down the hall. They took several different turns, one left, two right, and then one more left. They stopped in front of a steel door. Justin pulled out a key card and slid it through the lock. The red light on the lock blinked green and the door opened for them.

Albert stepped in before Justin and pulled out his gun, ready to fire. Justin came and stood next to him. Justin frowned as he saw the plate full of food still on the floor. "Why haven't you eaten? We're trying to take care of you, Bart."

Bart narrowed his eyes as he stood up from the ground. He could've sped out of there in an instant, but he hadn't eaten. Without food, he was too weak to run at high speeds. "If you were trying to take care of me, then you would've let me out of this hole a long time ago." he seethed.

Justin chuckled. "I couldn't do that. At least not yet. Come on. You're friends should be here in a few minutes. We need to get going."

Albert walked behind Bart and placed the gun directly in his back. He pushed him forward. Justin followed them out of the room and closed the door behind him. Things in his plan may have changed, but he was still going to win in the end. He was sure of it.

* * *

Clark walked down the halls. He had known this place for a while now. After taking out the video feed and every guard he came across, he was becoming anxious. He was ready to get his hands around Justin's neck and squeeze out every breath of air he had in his lungs.

"_I won't leave you Clark."_

Clark stopped and held his head. He could hear Lois in his head. He kept hearing her repeat it, over and over again. His leg began to ache dully.

"_I'll always stay with you."_

That was a lie…or was it? She had left him, right? Something at the back of his mind yelled out that she didn't leave him. She went to go get help. He closed his eyes tightly and pushed away any kind of emotions or thoughts that might deter him from the mission at hand.

Clark continued walking down the hall feeling nothing. He listened for Justin and found his heart beat only after a few seconds. He narrowed his eyes and listened for any guards. The only guard left standing was Albert and he was with Justin. Good. He wouldn't have any kind of distractions.

* * *

Oliver and Lois walked into the clearing and saw the base. "Cyborg and the general must already be here."

"Come on," Lois said as she continued walking, leaving Oliver behind some.

Oliver quickly put on his head set and turned it on, letting Chloe know he was online. He followed after Lois as they walked into the building. "Lois, I don't want you to go wandering off, understood?" Oliver said as he looked to Lois. She just rolled her eyes in response and crossed her arms. "Watchtower, are the video feeds out?" Oliver spoke into the headset.

"Cyborg and the General said somebody had already cut them."

Oliver checked to make sure Lois was still there. She was. "I've got Lois here with me too. But what do you mean the video feeds had already been cut?"

"Lois is there?!" Chloe yelled at him.

Oliver winced at her screech. "Yes, Watchtower. Don't yell in my ear like that again. Anyways, back to my question?"

Chloe let out a frustrated sigh. "I don't know what happened to the feeds. They just told me that somebody had already done it. I think I heard Cyborg mention that it looked like a lump of melted metal."

Oliver paused "Do you think…"

"I'm guessing his code-name shouldn't be 'boy-scout' anymore."

Oliver silently cursed in his head. "All right, tell us where to go to get Impulse." he looked to Lois, but didn't see her. "Lois?" he quietly called out.

There was no response. He swore aloud this time. "Watchtower, Lois just left."

"What?! First you bring her and now you lost her! You are unbelievable!"

"I'm sorry, I'll find her! Arrow out." he said as he put the headset on stand-by. He really didn't want to hear any of her yelling anymore. Oliver turned and began running down a hallway, his arrow up and ready to fire at any enemies.

* * *

Lois slowly skidded to a halt at the end of the hallway. She looked behind her to see if Oliver had followed. She didn't see him. It was a good thing. She needed to do this on her own. He couldn't help her.

Lois looked down the hall to her left and then to the one on her right. It had been a while since she had been there and she had forgotten where Justin's office was. Lois let out a small indecisive groan as she chose to walk down the right hallway. She started picking up her speed until she was in a full out run. Her heart pounded in her chest from the exertion, but she kept going. She just didn't want Clark killing any more.

"Lois!"

Lois stopped in slight shock as she saw Bart being pushed by Albert and Justin standing right next to him.

Justin smiled. "Lois Lane. What a pleasant surprise! Seems like we're going to have a complete reunion here in a few minutes."

* * *

"What do we do now?" Victor asked.

"We came here to get Bart. That's what we're going to do." Sam said, quickly getting over the shock of Clark's presence.

He nodded his head as he followed Sam down the hallways. They would stop a few times to ask Chloe for directions before they would continue.

"Cyborg!"

Victor turned and saw Oliver in his Green Arrow uniform running up to them. "Arrow, glad you could make it. What took you?" Victor asked as he crossed his arms.

"Lois. She's here and I sort of lost her." Oliver said, avoiding the death glares from Sam.

"You brought her here and now you don't know where she is?" Sam asked in a tight voice.

Oliver only nodded.

Sam cursed as he ran a hand through his thinning hair. "Well, Clark's here too."

Oliver bit his tongue. "I know. That's why Lois is here. I think she's trying to stop him."

Sam shook his head. "Who knows how Clark's going to react when he sees Lois here!"

"Hey, let's just calm down. We're wasting time talking about this. We need to find Bart and Lois. Once we've done that, we can go." Victor said as he tried keeping the peace.

Oliver looked up at him. "And what about Clark?"

Victor shook his head. "Man, I don't think there's anything we can do for him."

Oliver remembered the gun loaded with kryptonite bullets in his pocket. The only thing they could make sure of was that Clark wouldn't kill any more.

* * *

Stewart silently watched Chloe from his seat on the couch. He felt as if he had magically become invisible. Chloe was typing away at the keyboard in front of the computer. She would pause for a few seconds and look at the screen before she clicked the mouse a few times and began typing all over again.

Stewart slowly got up and walked towards her. He stood a few feet away. "How's everything going?"

Chloe looked up, a bit startled when he interrupted the peace. She looked back to the computer. "You don't need to know. You were fine sitting on the couch."

"I want to help, though."

Chloe gave him a hard look.

"I know that this is partly my fault and I want to make up for it. Please?"

"All right, what do you know?"

"Can you first tell me who's there exactly?"

"Victor, Sam, Oliver, Lois, and Clark."

Stewart grimaced when he heard Lois' name. The grimace only grew after he heard Clark's. "Have they seen Clark?"

Chloe shook her head. "And I can't locate him since the video feeds are out."

"Can I pull something up?"

Chloe stood up from her chair and allowed Stewart to pull something up. Stewart looked at the computer screen intently as different windows began popping up. He knew which ones to close and which ones to keep open. He would type in passwords, deactivate firewalls, any kind of block that came up, Stewart was able to get past it. Chloe couldn't say that she wasn't impressed.

Stewart opened a final window and pushed the chair back. "There."

Chloe looked at the picture. It was a human diagram. "What's so important about this?" "This is Clark. The skeleton, muscles, organs, everything you see here. It's pretty much like an x-ray." Stewart highlighted two points on the diagram. One on his leg and another in his brain. "If Clark really is there at the base, then someone needs to shoot him either here in his leg or in his brain."

Chloe leaned in and looked at the two highlighted points. She could see an unnatural speck in the center of both points. "What are those?"

"The one in his brain is a device that controlled his memories and the one in his leg is connected to the one in his brain. Originally it was supposed to be implanted into his spinal cord, but there was no time."

Chloe looked at Stewart, not understanding how they were able implant these 'devices'.

"When Clark and Lois tried escaping and Clark was left behind. The guards were ordered to shoot him with kryptonite bullets. One bullet hit him and that was in his leg. Justin had placed this device into the bullet, so when they pulled out the bullet, they left the device in there." Stewart stood up and wiped his sweaty hands on his pants. "After that device was in him, it couldn't be taken out and the next step was to was easy to place the other device in his brain."

"But if they would have to use kryptonite for the bullet to penetrate him. And using a kryptonite bullet could kill him."

Stewart looked down with a grimace on his face. "Isn't it better to kill one man than the whole world?"

Chloe bit her lip. He had a point. "So which area would be their best bet?"

"The one in his leg. When I was implanting the one in his brain, I kind of…messed up. I was off by a few centimeters and that's messed the whole thing up. If the device in his leg is hit by the bullet, then the entire thing will shut down and Clark will have access to his memories again. That is if he survives."

"Does Justin know that you messed up when you implanted the one in his brain?"

Stewart shook his head. "I hope he never finds out about it."

Chloe nodded her head. She sat back in the chair and began typing on the keyboard. "Cyborg, I need you to pull up a picture."

* * *

"Let him go, Justin." Lois said as she took a small step back.

"Who, Bart? Oh, I'm waiting for your other friends to arrive. Wouldn't be a real reunion if it was just you that showed up." Justin said with a smirk.

"You can't do this Justin. It's me and Clark that you wanted. Just let him go and I'll do whatever you want." Lois said trying to keep her calm.

"No, Lois. You can't do that!" Bart exclaimed.

Lois ignored him as she continued negotiating. "You know that if you have me, you have Clark. Just let Bart go. He has nothing to do with this."

There was a large gust of wind around them and as soon as it stopped, Albert and Bart were lying in separate ends of the hallway, both unconscious. Lois looked and saw Justin being held up in the air by Clark.

"Let me go!" Justin yelled as he struggled against Clark's death grip.

"No, you have no idea what you did to me." Clark said through clenched teeth.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You used me! You ruined me life!" Clark yelled.

"Clark, put him down." Lois said as she cautiously approached him.

Clark loosened the grip on Justin's neck only by a faction. "Why should I listen to you?" he asked, softer than his previous tone.

"Because I know that you don't want to kill anyone. You never did. You were never a killer. It was Justin. All of those things, it was Justin." Clark clenched his jaw. "You don't know that."

"Yes I do, Clark. You were a good honest man. You never murdered anyone." Lois took a few steps forward. "I know you're still in there Clark. Just put Justin down."

"You don't get it, do you? The Clark you knew is gone. The new and improved version is standing right in front of you. And to be honest, I think Justin would get exactly what he deserves if I kill him right now in my hands."

"So are you going to be the executioner? If you really do remember everything then you would remember that you would never give out punishment like this. Sure, Justin's a horrible man, but you need to let the police deal with him." Lois placed her hand on his arm.

Clark dropped Justin once he felt Lois' hand on him. He immediately grabbed her wrist and looked at her with burning eyes. "How can you say all those things? I'm sure you saw what Justin did. You probably hate him as much as I do." he leaned in. "Don't you want to see him dead?"

Lois swallowed. She couldn't say that she wanted Justin to live, but she didn't want Clark to kill him. But as she looked into Clark's eyes, she could feel fear overcoming her. All she could see was a cold-blooded killer staring right back at her.

* * *

Oliver, Victor, and Sam jogged through the hallways, still not finding Lois or Bart.

"Cyborg, I need you to pull up a picture." Chloe said through the head set.

Victor stopped. "What is it, Watchtower?"

"Just pull it up."

Victor did as she said and a hologram came out of his arm. He looked at it. "What's it supposed to be?" he asked as Oliver and Sam surrounded him to look at the diagram.

"It's a diagram of Clark's body. You see the highlighted point on his leg?"

Victor zoomed in and found it. "I see it."

"Someone needs to shoot him there with a kryptonite bullet."

"Are you serious?"

Chloe paused on the other line. "I wish I wasn't."

Victor grimaced. "We have to do what needs to be done." he said before turning to Sam and Oliver. "Watchtower says we need to shoot Clark here in his leg." Victor pointed to the highlighted area. "I don't know how we're going to do it, though. We have no kryptonite with us."

"I know Justin has a vault of it, but by the time we get there, it might be too late." Sam said.

Oliver reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun. "This has kryptonite bullets." he ignored the shocked looks he was getting from Sam and Victor. "I had them made when Lois first came out of here. I made them out of precaution."

Victor nodded. "We've got your back."

Oliver looked down at the gun. He turned on the head set. "Watchtower, are you sure you can't locate Clark?"

"Nice of you to turn on your communication line again, Arrow." came Chloe's cold response.

"Look, we don't have anytime for this. Can you locate him, yes or no?"

"I've tried, but I couldn't."

Oliver swore. There had to be an easier way.

A yell could be heard down the hallway. "That was Justin." Sam said. He had never heard Justin yell, but he knew what Justin sounded like.

Oliver turned to Victor and Sam. "Sam, stay back. Victor cover me. I'm going in." he said as he ran in the direction of the yell.

Victor followed him, keeping his distance as they left Sam in the back.

* * *

Lois cleared her throat. She wasn't going to be intimidated by Clark. "That still doesn't make it right."

His face remained stony. He didn't reply to what Lois had just said.

"Put her down!"

Clark and Lois looked and saw Oliver pointing a gun directly at him. Clark reacted quickly and placed Lois in front of him, using her as a shield. "I know that you won't shoot me with Lois in front of me."

"I thought you knew bullets couldn't hurt you." Oliver taunted.

"Don't think I'm stupid. I know you have kryptonite bullets in that gun."

Oliver didn't show any expression. "Let her go Clark."

Lois inhaled sharply as she felt one of Clark's hand grip her neck and the other held her wrist. His grip was slowly beginning to tighten.

"You don't want to do this Clark." Lois spoke softly.

Clark tried ignoring her as he continued staring at Oliver. No one noticed Justin slowly creeping away.

"You can do whatever you want, Clark, but I won't leave you." Lois whispered.

Clark shut his eyes tightly as he felt his head swimming. Instead of his grip loosening, it began to get tighter. His head began pounding and a sharp pain entered his leg. Images from the past came up.

* * *

_He opened his eyes to a bright light. He squinted as he looked around. Clark's head began throbbing as he looked around. It felt as if someone had grabbed incisors and cut his head open. _

_He was tied to a chair looking at his reflection from a mirror. Clark hadn't seen his reflection in such a long time. His face was bloody and bruised and looked horrible. That was just his face._

_Clark remembered him and Lois trying to escape. He felt his heart feel a bit lighter at the fact that Lois had escaped. He didn't want her here. She had nothing to do with it. He didn't care if she went to get help, all that mattered was she was out of this place._

_The door opened and Justin came in. "Good afternoon Clark. How are you feeling?"_

_Clark didn't answer him._

_Justin clasped his hands behind his back. "Seems like you're not in a very talkative mood. It's a shame really. Must be because you're girlfriend is gone." Justin stared at Clark's stony face. "Do you know you've been out for a week?"_

_Clark clenched his jaw. "I'd rather be unconscious than deal with your mindless torture."_

_Justin scowled. "Well, while you were out, we found her."_

_Clark's face paled, even more than it already was._

"_We have her Clark and there's nothing you can do." Justin smirked as he walked out._

_Another man entered, Clark remembered his name, Steve. He began asking Clark one single question, over and over._

"_What is your name?"_

"_Clark Kent." Clark continuously answered every time._

_Steve would pull out a kryptonite rock and hit him with it. Clark didn't know how long this was going on. Eventually, Steve traded the rock for injecting pure kryptonite into Clark._

_Clark let out a yell as the first injection went through his blood. The door opened again and this time Justin came in. Justin walked to a corner and grabbed a nice sized chunk of kryptonite. He tossed it back and forth in his hands as he walked closer to Clark. _

_Clark held a steel gaze as Justin approached him. Even though his blood was boiling from being near the kryptonite, he refused to let his gaze lower._

"_Mr. Kent, why can't you cooperate with us? You know if you did, life would be a whole lot easier for you. You could move back to your little farm, get with your girlfriend, have a family…wait, is that even possible for you?"_

_Clark tugged at his bonds, willing them to break loose. "Where is she?"_

_Justin gave him a quizzical look. "Who are you talking about?"_

"_Don't play games with me!" Clark yelled._

_Justin didn't like being yelled at, so he dropped the rock in Clark's lap. Clark bit back a yell and instead bit his tongue. Blood started to drip out of it because of the pressure he was putting on it. "Don't yell at me." he said in a low menacing voice._

_Justin bent down and began whispering. "I just got word from our other base. Lois Lane is dead. She is dead and gone. It's a shame actually. If Lois hadn't escaped, she would've been made your partner. She had an excellent training in self-defense. But it doesn't matter. Lois Lane is dead. Dead, Clark. There was absolutely nothing you could've done. She would've died anyways. She is dead."_

_Clark looked down as Justin pulled away. He began weeping. It couldn't be true. Lois couldn't be dead. It was just a lie Justin was telling him._

"_What is your name?" Steve asked._

_Clark hadn't noticed Justin leave. It was just him and Steve again. "Clark?" That was his name, wasn't it? It was what Lois called him. But Lois was dead._

_Steve injected more kryptonite into him. Clark began moaning from the pain it brought him. He didn't have the strength to yell anymore._

"_What is your name?"_

_Clark breathed in and out, trying hard to think. He couldn't come up with an answer. His mind was blank. It was completely numb. His mind began yelling out a name. 'Lois,' He had no idea who that was. "I don't know,"_

* * *

Clark opened his eyes and looked at Lois. She wouldn't meet his eyes as she tried her best to keep looking away. "You're supposed to be dead." he whispered.

Lois looked at him and saw something she hadn't seen in a long time. A sparkle of life.

"Look out!"

Everyone turned to Victor and saw him pointing at someone. It was Justin and he was pointing a gun directly at Lois. He pulled the trigger, the bullet went flying through the air.

"No, Lois!" Clark cried as he let go of Lois and pushed her out of the way.

As soon as Lois was out of the way, Oliver aimed his gun at Clark's leg and pulled the trigger.

Lois' head hit the wall and everything was starting to get fuzzy. She felt a sharp pain hit her shoulder. She tried keeping her eyes opened. The last thing she saw before everything went black, was Clark falling to the ground.

* * *

A/N: Thank you everyone for reading and for the reviews! :D I feel bad since I left you so long without an update. But either way, I hope you guys like this chapter. And I now know how I'm going to end this story. Expect about one or two more chapters until the final chapter. Don't forget to leave your thoughts after you've read it! Thanks!


	12. A New Chapter

A New Chapter

Victor ran to Justin and punched him hard enough to render him unconscious. Victor turned to Oliver and saw him breathing heavily as he stared at Clark. He was laying on the ground with blood coming out of his leg and chest.

"Is he still alive?" Victor asked carefully.

Oliver clenched his jaw. There was no way he could still be alive. Justin must've shot him with a kryptonite bullet also and it looked as if it went straight through his heart. Oliver bent down to feel for a pulse. He kept two of his fingers on Clark's neck, not feeling anything. He moved them a little, maybe they had been in the wrong position. Oliver felt an unsteady heart-beat. "Barely. We need to get to Lois and Bart, make sure they're okay." Oliver said as he stood up.

They heard Sam coming down the hall. Sam stopped when he saw the scene before him. "What happened?"

Oliver bent down beside Lois while victor was checking on Bart. "A lot of things." Oliver answered sullenly.

Bart started groaning as Victor shook him. He opened his eyes and looked around. "Where am I?"

Victor smiled. "Doesn't matter right now. We're going to get you out of here. Can you run?"

Bart frowned. "No, I haven't really been eating anything." Bart looked around and saw Lois and Clark, both still unconscious. "What's wrong with them?"

"Lois just bumped her head." Oliver said.

"And Clark?"

Oliver and Victor exchanged a glance. "I don't think there's anything we can do for him."

Sam, who had seen war, understood the situation. There really wasn't anything they could really do for Clark.

"What? No, we have to get him help! Clark can't die!" Bart yelled at them.

"Bart, Clark died a long time ago. The only thing left was a mindless killing machine."

Bart clenched his jaw. "I don't care. Clark _is_ my best friend. We're getting him the help he needs."

"How are we going to do it! We'd have to sneak him up the clock tower. Somebody is going to see him."

"Then take him to Smallville."

Oliver scoffed. "Do you know how far away that is!"

"At least then, we could say we tried." Bart said with conviction.

Victor cleared his throat. "I'll see if I can try and bring one of the cars closer."

"I'll help you." Sam said as he followed Victor.

"We need something to stop his bleeding. If we don't, he won't have any kind of chance of survival." Oliver said.

Bart nodded his head as he tore off a strip from his shirt and handed it to Oliver. He began applying pressure to the wounds.

"Call Chloe and tell her what's going on. Don't forget to tell her to call Martha to let her know we're on our way. And tell her to bring some surgical equipment. Maybe a sling too."

* * *

Martha turned off the pot of water and put a tea bag in it. She stirred some sugar into it and handed it to Chloe. Chloe had showed up at the farm about an hour ago with Stewart. Chloe had stayed inside while Stewart was outside exploring. It was his first time on a farm. "How are you feeling, honey?" Martha asked as she rubbed Chloe's back.

"I'm doing a little better. Hearing Bart's voice put a lot of my worries to rest." Chloe smiled grimly. "Now I can't stop worrying about Lois or Clark."

"I think they should be here in a few minutes." Martha said.

Chloe looked at Martha with amazement. "How can you be so calm?"

Martha looked at her strangely.

"I mean, it's like nothing horrible is going on right now. You just seem so calm." Chloe was envious of Martha's calmness.

Martha shook her head. "I'm the farthest thing from calm. Lois might be hurt and they don't know if it's serious or not. And then Clark…" Martha closed her eyes as she pushed away tears. "Trust me Chloe, I'm not feeling calm." Martha had a sad smile form on her lips. "If Jonathan were here, he would be the calm one. When Clark was shot for the first time with a kryptonite bullet, Jonathan knew exactly what to do and he was calm for the most part."

Chloe smiled as she remembered the late Mr. Kent. Martha was right. If Jonathan were here, he'd know exactly what to do. They might not even be in this situation in the first place.

The door swung open and Victor and Oliver came in as they struggled with Clark. Sam followed them with Lois lying limp in his arm. Last of all, Bart stepped in looking like a mess.

Chloe didn't know who to go to first. They gently placed Clark down on the ground while Sam laid Lois down on the couch. Martha closed her eyes as soon as she saw all the blood that was spilled on Clark's clothing.

"Chloe, did you bring the surgical equipment?" Oliver asked somberly.

Chloe nodded as she pointed to the bowl on the kitchen counter. Oliver grabbed it and handed it to Sam. "I'm sure you've done something like this before."

Sam took the bowl from him and nodded his head.

Oliver looked to Chloe and Martha, then to Bart. "Uh, Bart, do you think you could take Mrs. Kent and Chloe somewhere else?"

Bart nodded as he opened the door for them. They walked outside and once Chloe heard the door close, she threw her arms around Bart and broke down into tears.

* * *

Oliver let Sam and Victor try and get the bullets out of Clark. He went to Lois to check up on her. On their way to the farm, they found out that Lois had injured her shoulder. She was still unconscious, so it would be easier for Oliver to look at it.

He knelt down and carefully looked at her shoulder. It was bruised and was swollen. It seemed as if it had been dislocated. Oliver knew he had to pop it back into place before any permanent damage was done. Once he did that, Lois was definitely going to wake up from the pain.

"Here goes nothing." Oliver mumbled. He bit his lip as he grabbed her upper arm and pushed her shoulder bone back into place. Oliver reached for a sling that Chloe had brought along with her and placed Lois' arm in it.

Lois' eyes opened wide and she gasped for air. She gritted her teeth as she held back a yell. She grabbed her shoulder gently and looked up at Oliver. She knew she was at the Kent farm, but she didn't know how she got there. To be honest, she didn't care at the moment. "Is Clark…?" Lois couldn't get the words out.

Oliver swallowed hard. "I don't know."

Lois sat up slowly. She grimaced as she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder.

"Lois, you need to be careful. You're shoulder was dislocated." Oliver said.

Lois nodded her head, now understanding why it hurt so much. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. "He saved my life." An image of his eyes came to her mind. Before all the gunshots went off, she saw hope, life, something she thought she'd never see in those blue eyes again. "Where is he?"

Oliver bit his lip. "You don't need to worry about him right now. You just need to make sure your shoulder gets better."

"If you're not going to tell me where he is, at least tell me he'll be all right."

Oliver looked to the kitchen where Sam was still working. Lois couldn't see them from where she was sitting. "I can't tell you that Lois because I don't know if it's true." Oliver stood up. "Why don't you go outside with Martha and Chloe. They probably want to be sure you're fine."

Lois nodded her head as she stood up slowly. She felt a dull pain in her head. She was going to be needing some pain killers soon. Oliver walked with her out the front door and they headed to the back porch.

Chloe and Bart were sitting on the swing and Martha was leaning against the post, looking up at the night sky. She could see a hint of daylight coming up.

Chloe's face lit up when she saw Lois. She stood up and hugged her tightly, but still being careful with her shoulder. "Thank goodness you're all right." Chloe said.

Lois gave her a small smile. "I'm glad to see that Bart's here and still alive."

Bart gave her a smile as he gave her a gentle hug. "So am I, Lois."

Lois swallowed hard when she looked at Martha. It looked as if she were holding in tears. Lois gave her a shaky smile and Martha immediately gave her a hug.

"Everything's going to be all right." Martha reassured Lois.

Lois bit her lip and nodded her head.

"Do any of you know where Stewart is?" Oliver asked.

"He's looking around in the barn. Mrs. Kent told him it was all right." Chloe answered.

Oliver nodded his head as he went to get Stewart. Maybe he could help them with Clark.

* * *

"Are you going to be able to get it out?" Victor asked.

Sam squinted his eyes, trying to get a clearer focus on the wound. "I don't know. It's really close to his heart. It might've penetrated it for all we know." Sam never had to pull a bullet out that was so close to a vital organ.

Victor and Sam had already pulled out the bullet from Clark's leg. When they did, they were also able to pull out the device that was practically controlling Clark. Victor wrapped Clark's leg with a gauze while Sam started working on the other wound. The one that might kill Clark with the slightest miscalculation.

The door opened and Oliver came back in with Stewart following behind. "How's everything coming?" Oliver asked.

"We were able to get the bullet in his leg out and also the device. Right now, Sam's working on the other one." Victor answered. Sam was too deeply concentrated to answer right then.

"I brought Stewart in. I didn't know if he might be able to help or not." Oliver said.

Sam looked up. "Stewart get over here and get this bullet out of him. You're more qualified than I am."

"Are you sure? I mean…don-don't you want to do it?" Stewart stuttered.

Sam gave him a look that terrified Stewart. He was down there and took the surgical tools from Sam. "How far in is the bullet?" Stewart asked.

"It's pretty deep. I don't know if it hit his heart though." Sam answered.

Stewart looked closer as he carefully inserted the pliers into the wound. "I don't think the bullet made any kind of contact with his heart. It's pretty close to it though." Stewart bit his tongue as he started concentrating on getting it out.

Clark's face was pale and he started to sweat even heavier than a few hours ago.

"I've got it!" Stewart exclaimed as he felt the pliers grab something he was sure wasn't supposed to be there. He slowly pulled it out and held it up for all to see. It was the second kryptonite bullet. The one that was supposed to have hit Lois.

Victor grabbed it and put it in a lead box. Sam began bandaging the wound while Oliver checked for a pulse. It was barely there.

"What now?" Victor asked. "Is he going to wake up the same?"

"Since one of the devices is out of his body, he shouldn't wake up as the controlled Clark." Stewart answered. "He'll probably have a memory of everything that happened and everything he did, though."

Sam looked out the window at the rising sun. It was a new day today. "Somebody should call the police and tell them about Justin."

Victor stood up as he took it upon himself to do it.

Oliver looked to Sam and Stewart. "I guess everyone can go back home if they want to. I'm sure Chloe and Bart are going to want some time." Oliver said.

Sam nodded his head as he stood up with a heave. "Stewart, you stay here and keep an eye on Kent." he ordered. Sam and Oliver walked out the back door where the rest were gathered.

Lois stood up. "Is he all right?"

"He should be. It's a miracle he's even alive right now." Sam said.

"The bullet was a few centimeters away from his heart. He lost a lot of blood, but I think he should be fine." "What about when he wakes up?" Lois asked. She still wanted to see that spark of life in his eyes.

"Stewart says that he should be the same Clark Kent before all this happened. Except he's going to have the memories and knowing Clark, it's going to eat away at him."

"I hope not to sound rude, but I would really like for me and Bart to go home already." Chloe spoke up.

"Yeah, that's fine. You're going to have to take Stewart with you and drop him off somewhere." Oliver said. He went in to get Stewart.

Stewart came outside and stood there awkwardly as he glanced at Lois. She didn't recognize him and he was grateful for that.

Chloe and Bart said good bye to everyone and started walking to Chloe's car. Stewart followed after them. They would drop him off at a bus terminal and he would finally be able to go back to his hometown.

Victor stepped outside. "It's done. The police are on their way right now."

Lois couldn't believe it. It was finally over. It seemed too good to be true.

Oliver and Victor went inside for a moment to put Clark on the couch. They couldn't just leave him there on the floor. Martha went inside to start picking up whatever mess there was. Sam and Lois were the only ones left out on the porch.

Sam cleared his throat. "How's your shoulder?" Sam asked.

"It feels like an eighteen-wheeler ran over it." Lois said grimly.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"Go through what, Dad? Having my shoulder dislocated or being caught with Clark five years ago?"

"Lois, if I would've known-"

"Just stop, Dad. I really don't want to hear excuses. At least you tried redeeming yourself by helping Oliver get Bart."

Oliver and Victor came back out. "We're leaving already. Lois are you coming?" Oliver asked.

Lois shook her head. "I'm going to stay with Mrs. Kent. Make sure Clark is going to be all right."

"I'll see you guys later then." Victor said as he pulled out his keys. "Tell me how Clark is doing."

Lois nodded her head as they said good bye to him.

Oliver turned to Sam. "You ready to go, sir?"

Sam nodded, then turned to Lois. He gave her a hug. "I love you, Lois."

Lois stiffened. She never really remembered him telling her that, not even when she and Lucy were little kids. She didn't know what to reply.

Oliver could feel the awkward tension and quickly said good bye. He walked down the steps and Sam followed after him. Lois walked inside the house after they left and grabbed some medicine. Her head and her shoulder were killing her.

She looked into the living room and saw Martha looking over Clark. Lois quietly walked in. She could see where they had bandaged up his chest, but the bandage on his leg was hidden by his pants. His face was still a little pale, but it was starting to get some of its color back.

Martha looked up at Lois. "Do you want a moment with him?" she asked.

Lois swallowed hard. She couldn't do it right now. "No, I'm fine. Thanks. I was just going to see if I could go upstairs and go to sleep. I haven't really gotten any sleep at all."

"Of course, honey. You can sleep for as long as you want."

Lois smiled in gratitude and walked up the stairs. She went into Clark's old room and crawled underneath the covers. She closed her eyes and a tear slipped from her eye as she fell asleep.

* * *

It was already late afternoon. Clark was still asleep on the couch and Lois was still asleep in Clark's room. Martha had let Shelby in earlier in they day. Shelby went to lie down beside Clark, a few hours later, he went up to lay down with Lois. Right now, he was back to lying beside Clark.

Martha sighed as she looked at the clock. She was starting to get worried at how long Lois and Clark had been asleep. The entire day, she had tried to stay busy. She started working some in the farm, then came inside to clean a little. Now there was nothing to do except wait.

She turned to the stove to put on a pot of water for some tea. Martha heard creaking floorboards and she knew someone was standing behind her. She turned around and saw Clark staring at her. She nearly lost her breath when she saw him. This was her son.

"Mom?" Clark spoke in a quiet, timid voice.

Martha's eyes filled with tears as she ran up to hug him. "Clark, my boy."

Clark hugged her back, ignoring the dull pain in his chest and leg. "They told me you had died."

Martha pulled back to look at him. His eyes were filled with sorrow. "They told me everyone was dead. Even Lois."

"I'm here now, sweetie. And you're here too."

Clark looked away. "I've killed people, Mom."

"Clark, that wasn't you."

Clark closed his eyes. He remembered everything from those past five years.

"Why don't you sit down?"

Clark shook his head. "Where's Lois?"

"She's upstairs asleep."

"Is she all right?"

Martha nodded her head.

A quick smile appeared on Clark's face, but it faded. "Good." he started walking out the back door.

"Clark, where are you going?" Martha asked.

"I'm going out to the loft."

* * *

Lois opened her eyes and looked out the window. It was dark already. She sat up and held her head. She felt Shelby jump up on the bed and begin licking her face. She grimaced. "Yuck, Shelby." Lois said as she pushed the dog away.

Lois sneezed a few times as she carefully stood up. Her shoulder was still hurting, but not as much. With some more medicine, she might not even feel the pain anymore.

She walked down the stairs and saw Martha sitting at the dining table reading the newspaper. The couch where Clark had been was empty. Her heart began pounding hard. Lois thought Clark might've taken off. "Mrs. Kent, where's Clark?" Lois asked as she walked into the dining room.

Martha looked up with a smile. "Lois, I was starting to get worried about you. Clark's in the loft."

"So he's awake? Did he say anything? Is he all right?" Lois bombarded her with questions.

"He's fine Lois. I think you might want to go out there though. Oh and Chloe came by earlier, but you were still asleep. She said to call her as soon as you were up."

Lois nodded her head. She could call Chloe later. Right now, she needed to see Clark. She had to be sure he really was fine.

She walked outside into the barn and walked up the stairs to the loft. She stopped for a moment and watched Clark. He stood with his back turned to her, staring out the window. Shelby, who had been following her, ran to sit beside Clark.

Lois continued up and stood next to Clark. She didn't say anything, letting silence pass them by. She laid her hand on top of his. Clark immediately jumped and turned to face her, ready to attack if he deemed her an enemy.

"Whoa, Clark. Calm down. It's just me." Lois said as she took a step back and held up her hand in surrender.

Clark took several deep breaths before letting his hands fall to his side. "I'm sorry. I thought it was someone else."

"It's all right."

"I did that, didn't I?" Clark asked, indicating at her shoulder. She could see the regret in his eyes.

Lois nodded. "It was either this or dying. I'd prefer a dislocated shoulder over dying any day."

Clark sighed as he looked back to the window. He had almost forgotten how many stars there were out here. He had been in that dark place for so long.

"How're you feeling?" Lois asked as she looked out at the scene before them.

"Different…nothing's the same anymore." Clark replied softly.

Lois didn't say anything. She knew it was true.

"I don't really remember the stars."

Lois frowned. "What do you mean?"

"For those five years that I was being controlled, I was still there in my subconscious. I was trapped in a prison in my own mind. I started to forget everything," he turned to look at Lois. "Even you."

Lois could see the pained look in his eyes. "But you didn't. You never did."

Clark clenched his jaw and turned away. "I tried killing you more than once."

"That wasn't you. It was that counterpart Justin created."

"That doesn't change anything." Clark looked down and let out a slow breath. "I don't trust myself anymore. What if I become that same person again? They had me under control for so long, it was becoming natural for me. If they had taken those controlling devices out of me, I might've still been that killer."

"Clark, you're never going to become that person again. Besides it wasn't even your fault." _It was mine. _Lois looked down and began avoiding his gaze.

"I didn't mean a word I said to you in the Fortress." Clark said as he grabbed her chin and lifted it slightly.

Lois swallowed as she looked up to him.

"I know that you would never leave me like that. You went to get help. I was glad you were able to get out of there. Who knows what might've happened if you stayed behind."

"But Clark, if I had stayed then you probably wouldn't have done all those things. Justin never would've gotten control over you."

Clark shook his head. "Justin was planning to turn you into the same thing that I became. If you had stayed, I would've become that same monster, but this time, you wouldn't have been there to pull me out."

Lois closed her eyes as she felt them moisten. She pulled out of his touch and looked out the window again. "So what now?"

She could hear Clark sigh thoughtfully. "I can't stay."

Lois snapped her head to Clark. "You're leaving?"

He nodded his head slowly, not looking into her eyes. Instead he focused on a star that wasn't there. "I have to be sure that I will never hurt anyone like that again."

"Where are you going, then?" Lois asked softly.

"To the Fortress."

Lois swallowed a lump in her throat. "You're not going to come back." she said in a whisper.

Clark closed his eyes. He didn't deny it. "I don't know. I'm sorry Lois."

"When are you leaving?" Lois asked sharply.

"In a few minutes."

"Have you told your mom? Chloe?"

Clark nodded. "I had to say good bye to you."

"Let's get it over with then." Lois said as she turned to him. "Good-bye Clark." she said as she held out her hand for a hand shake. She knew it was cold, but if she did it any other way, she knew she was going to break down.

Clark looked at her offered hand with a pained expression. He ignored her hand and pulled her into a tight hug, careful with her shoulder.

Lois closed her eyes as she buried her head into his chest. Tears were tempting to break through her closed eyelids. She didn't want him to go. She wanted to be with him as long as she could.

They stood there in the loft hugging for a while, neither keeping track of the time. Clark finally pulled away. He cupped Lois' face in once hand and with the other he brushed away a strand of hair. "I'll see you later." he said with a hint of a smile. He leaned in and gave her a soft peck on her cheek.

Lois closed her eyes as she felt his lips on her skin. She felt an amazing sensation go through her body. She kept her eyes closed and turned her head so that he could kiss her on the lips, but she heard a gust of wind. When she opened her eyes, she was alone in the loft. Clark had left. She sat down on the couch and cried.

* * *

A/N: Originally, this was going to be the ending, but I wanted something happy and I know most of you wanted a happy ending too. So while this is the last chapter, there will be an epilogue. So don't worry! It'll be up by next week. Hope you enjoy this chapter and please post a review for me! =D Oh and if there's anything that still needs to be explained, please let me know!


	13. Epilogue: Life

A/N: This story was something new for me. I've never really tried something like this before. I really hope that everyone enjoyed this story though! Thank you for reading and reviewing, they really encouraged me. This might be my last story for a while, until I get a new solid idea. I've already got a few and I'm trying to see how they'd work out. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this final part and I hope this is what you readers would call a happy ending. =D

* * *

Epilogue: Life

Twenty-five years passed. Clark never came back. Bart and Chloe began having problems and split after a year. But a year passed and they were back together again, for good. Two years later, they married and had three wonderful kids; the oldest about to graduate High School and the younger two were still in High School. Oliver continued with Green Arrow, but slowly started to ease up on the job. They were all getting older. That's why he had a new sidekick, Speedy or Mia Dearden. Oliver and Dinah dated for a while before getting married. They now had a son named Conner who was the same age as Peter, Chloe and Bart's second child. Nobody knew what happened with Stewart. They supposed he had made himself a new identity and had a family by now. Justin was in prison and they all hoped that was where he would stay until he rotted to death. Sam died a few years ago from lung cancer and Martha was living in a nursing home.

Lois, on the other hand, was living on the farm, doing all the same chores Clark would do. She had hired hands though. On top of running the farm, she worked at the Daily Planet under a pen-name. The world had long forgotten about Lois Lane, Clark Kent, and the Red-Blue Blur, but there was no reason to bring up her official name again. Sure there was the occasional tourist at the farm, but it was rare. Lois would usually send them off and tell them she had no idea who they were talking about. She was living a normal life, except it was without Clark.

"So you promise that you'll be there? I don't want you missing my graduation Aunt Lois." said Tim, Chloe and Bart's oldest son.

"Yes, for the hundredth time I told you I'll make it." Lois said.

Chloe laughed at how frustrated Lois was getting. "I'll see you tomorrow, Lo."

"What's going on tomorrow?" Bart asked as he grabbed the car keys and spun them on his finger.

"We're having a cousin's lunch." Lois said proudly.

"Can we come?" Alice, the youngest of the Sullivan-Allen family asked.

"You have school tomorrow." Chloe told her firmly.

"Oh come on Mom. It's the last day. Everyone skips the last day of school."

"But you aren't. Now stop arguing."

Lois smiled at the family's interaction. She wished that she could have that, but she never found the right man. The only one she ever wanted a family with was with Clark. No one ever came close.

"Mom! Dad! Aunt Lois! Look!!" yelled Peter.

"What is it this time Peter?" Chloe asked in an exasperated tone.

"Wait let me guess…" Bart started teasing. "A man in a grey suit appeared before your eyes." he said in a mystical voice.

Peter looked at Bart with his jaw dropped. "Yeah! That's exactly what I saw!! Except he also had a big 's' on his chest."

"Oh please Peter. Stop making stuff up. That couldn't happen in a million years." Tim said with authority.

"But it's true!! Aunt Lois, you believe me right?" he looked at Lois as if she were his last hope.

Lois gave him a smile. "Of course I believe you Petey. Now you be sure to tell your parents you need that head of yours checked out." she said as she ruffled his red mop of hair.

"Aunt Lois!"

Alice started laughing. "I've always wanted to say my brother's insane and have it be true."

The back door opened and everyone turned to see who it was. It was a man, in a gray suit, with an 's' on his chest, who looked exactly like their dear friend Clark Kent.

"See! I told you so!! It's that man with the grey suit!!"

Lois, Bart, and Chloe stood there as if they were staring at a ghost. Chloe was the first one to move. "Clark?"

He gave them a smile. "It's me,"

"Oh my goodness, you're back!" Chloe exclaimed as she ran to hug him. Bart followed after her as they welcomed their old friend back.

Lois stayed rooted in her spot. Was he really here? Or was she just having a delusion? Maybe she was the one going crazy, not Peter.

Clark looked to Lois and could see the blank stare on her face. "Lois?" he took a step towards her.

"You're back," Lois said breathlessly.

"I'm back for good, Lois."

Lois' eyes filled with tears. He couldn't be here. He said he didn't know if he would ever be back. What if she woke up, this entire evening being a dream? It would hurt too much. She swallowed hard. "You can't be here." she mumbled.

A hurt look crossed Clark's face. "It's really me, Lois." he said as he slowly started walking towards her. He reached her and grabbed her hand. He looked down at it. It was starting to become wrinkled, but he didn't care. He rubbed her hand with his thumb and took a step even closer. His hot breath was hitting her face as if it was a wakeup call to her. A tear slipped from her eye. Clark reached up his hand and gently brushed it away. A smile graced Lois' lips and she leaned her head against Clark's chest. He wrapped his arms around her and she felt his warmth. It was the warmth she had been longing for all this time. _His_ warmth.

She looked up in his eyes. She could see the sadness and guilt, but it wasn't the main thing she could see. No, the main thing she saw was hope, a hope that only Clark Kent could have. Her smile only widened.

"Do you believe me now?" Clark asked with a hint of a smile on his face.

"Not yet," Lois said with a smirk. She stood on her toes and brought his head closer to hers. She captured his lips, meaning only to give him a quick and simple kiss. Clark was the one to deepen it. For more than twenty five years, while they were both alone, they were now here for each other.

They pulled apart and Lois rested her head back on his chest. Clark hugged her right back, careful not to hurt her though. He began smiling his that same smile he would always have on back in High School. "I'm really back Lois. I won't ever leave you again."

Lois closed her eyes and smiled. She completely forgot about Chloe and Bart and their kids. The only two people that existed right now were her and Clark. He was back. He was finally back.

After Clark had left, everything felt empty, as if she was only occupying space. Never before did Lois think she would feel like that, much less because of some man and even less because of Clark Kent. She thought he'd never come back. But he was here with her. Nothing was going to change that. She didn't know when it would happen or how it would happen, but she just knew that she finally had it. She had something she had been longing for all along. It was something she had never truly experienced, but would finally be able to have it for her own. Life.

**The End**


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